Sweet Revenge Rotten Truth
by CandleHeadButt
Summary: Vanellope is about to get her much desired revenge on the Candy Racers for years of torment but as she sits back and enjoys the pain, the racers show her that something is brewing within them as well. Something dangerous that even she may not be able to control.
1. Execution

She just said she was joking.

It was all a joke, it was just a joke.

Then why were they all taken from their beds at night, to be cuffed and chained, to be lead to the castle?

This was no joke.

The promise was being carried out.

The racers all mewed and cried but no one came to their rescue. Any attempts at escapes were met by pushes, they were meet by strikes.

All at the hand of her highness, Princess Vanellope.

"But it's for GOOD…." The child cooed, watching the crying masses being lead deeper and deeper down the castle halls.

Yes, this was what the deserved.

After all those years of torment, after all those years of pain.

They were all about to get the just desserts and what was better?

No one would care.

They had no King to save them this time, no ruler to keep the evil glitch away.

The girl tittered in delight as the crying continued, the screams, the shouts ringing high in her ears.

**_STOP!_**

**_NO!_**

**_WE'RE SORRY!_**

**_TH-THIS ISN'T FAIR!_**

Vanellope knew what was fair and this was it.

Now she had all the power, all the control.

She was the best racer ever and she had powers over them that they could only dream of.

Yes, this was going be sweet.

"Make sure it's good…" the princess told one of the candy guards but she stopped, pulling him gently by the shoulder "And for Taffyta?"

Vanellope's smile spread, much delights of screams and crying filling her mind.

"Make sure she gets the BEST of it."

The doors closed heavily upon the dungeons, the screams silent…but just for a moment.

The little princess walked the long ways down the halls of her castle.

HER castle.

It had been so long since she had walked the velvet cake carpets, seen the marble cake pillars.

It was hers once more.

And in these halls, she was going to enjoy the torment of those who had in the past pushed her away, in the past had shunned her.

Now it was her time to shine, to laugh, to deal out a dish even more cold than what they had given her.

She moved into her security room, a camera focused on each and every torture room.

There they were; those rotten little racers.

Some were being tied down, others chained. Red hots pokers, boiling caramel, ice cold cream.

It was all for them.

And she was going to enjoy it.

Her dress billowing around her, the child pulled up a chair.

"This…" she cooed "Is going to be the best seat in the house…."


	2. Candlehead

Torture One- Candlehead

"You empty headed LOUT!" the first guard said, pushing the small girl roughly on the ground "Did you really think things were going to be EASY for you? Just because you're STUPID?!"

Candlehead lay on the ground, her clothing in tatters and her eyes filled with tears.

Stupid.

How she hated that word.

She knew she could be quiet the scatter-brain at times but…but that was something she could not help.

She hated to be called stupid. It wasn't the first time. Even outside the game, she heard the whispers, the teasing.

_Isn't that that one racer?_

_Which one?_

_Ya know, the one who can't even string two and two together!_

_Haha, what a dope!_

Teasing Vanellope had made her feel better. In the eyes of the King, he told her it was the right thing to do, the SMART thing. She felt that by doing those things for Candy, she was actually smart, that she wasn't as dumb as everyone said she was.

But here things were, turned horribly.

She had trusted King Candy; trusted him like a father.

But it was all lies. Painful, controlled lies.

But she had trusted Vanellope as well.

She had been told that everything was a joke, that no one was to be executed.

Tortured?

Either way, it was something the racer didn't want to go through.

She looked around, around for any sort of escape, any sort of light but she found none. That didn't stop her from trying though.

"L-LEMME GO!"

"GET HER!" cried a large Bear Claw guard, sending a few of his smaller doughnut hole minions after her. Candlehead nearly made it to the door but the latch was too heavy. She couldn't lift.

"HELP! HELP!" she cried, her tears spilling from her eyes "ANYONE! PLEASE! STOP THIS! PLEA-!"

***BAM!***

The girl felt a heavy hand smacking the back of her head, her hat falling off.

"Cry all ya want…." The first doughnut hole said "But no one can hear ya now…"

"Why would ANYONE want to hear YOU after all? You're just a bully! Just a creep who tormented our princess!"

It was true; Candlehead had known what she had done and it hurt her. She remembered the times when Vanellope and her and all the other racers were friends.

Before CANDY.

Before TURBO.

But no one cared to listen to that tale; all the knew were that the racers had wronged Vanellope and the deserved all the punishment they could get.

Another strike hit the child, his time knocking her out halfway. She could still see the light, she could still hear the cackles but she could not move. She could not move as she was carried to the table.

"This is gonna be good…."

"Let's CUT the cake."

Cut the cake?

That WAS Candlehead's theme, ice cream and sweet birthday cake, but what did they mean by CUT the cake?

Her senses coming back to her, Candlehead saw the large knife atop the cell's ceiling.

She was smart enough to know what THAT meant! Fear rushed through her brain, she tried to escape but she found herself chained down to the table, the brittle bars too thick and tough for her to break.

"PLEASE! NO!" the girl screamed again, tears steaming down her face "WHY WON'T YOU BELIEVE THAT I AM SORRY!? WHY!?"

"Because…" cackled a voice over the intercom "Sorry doesn't cut it. But I'm sure YOU will!"

Vanellope.

To hear that voice, to hear the enjoyment of it, sparked a new feeling within Candlehead.

One of trust being broken, one of friendship turning sour.

She wanted to make good, she wanted things to change.

But Vanellope didn't care.

She didn't care like everyone else.

She was just like them; the people who laughed at her, who called her stupid.

And yet…and yet, Vanellope was free to do this?

Free to hurt her because of what Turbo had led.

"Stop cryin, ya lil mornon." laughed the guard, bringing out his own knife.

With a SLASH, he brought the cold, sharp blade down upon a small portion of Candlehead's leg, her polka-dot tights RIPPING. She screamed, feeling the sting but there was more to come.

"Gotta TEST it first…"

One more, then another, then another.

One cut on the leg. Then to the arm. Then to the knee.

"Well, she doesn't have cream filling!"

Candlehead twisted and thrashed but there was no escape, the pain going throughout her entire body. She wanted them to stop but the more she cried, the more they cut.

"More cake! MORE CAKE!"

"NO!"

"Is this side chocolate or vanilla?"

"STOP!"

It continued, going on and on for what felt like hours but as Candlehead lay exhausted on the table, her body shivering with cold, she realized that the worst was yet to come.

Right above her was the BIG blade, the metal so sleek and clean she could see her reflection upon it.

But it wouldn't be clean for long.

"Boys?" the main guard said "Bring it down!"

There was a loud CLANK and a few deep BOOMS but the blade slowly began to make its way down towards the girl, aimed at Candlehead's middle.

"Don't fret, kiddo…this is what regeneration is for!"

The cackling continued, the laughing filling the entire cell. Candlehead looked up, the blade slowly coming down upon her close and closer.

"N-no…."

On the floor, the broken remains of her candle sparked.

"Ha, what was that STUPID?"

Candlehead felt something forming within her tummy, something hot.

"N-NO!"

Another spark rose from the wick of the candle, the thing burning bright and sparks flying everywhere.

A guard looked down, noticing that the candle was now burning without a host….

But…but how could that be?

"Um….boss?"

"Not now! I want to-!"

"NO!"

"BOSS?!"

Candlehead suddenly remembered the teasing, she remembered the yelling. It began to swirl within her, mixed together with the torture and the knives. It angered her.

Candlehead rarely felt anger…and she had never felt an anger such as this.

"NO…" she growled "STOP THIS!"

"Boss, LOOK!"

The doughnut guards looked over to the side, noticing the restraints around Candlehead's wrist beginning to smolder.

But there was no light.

No fire.

Or…was there?

The glowing in Candlehead's middle began to spread, a low hum starting to fill the room.

"I-Is it getting' hot or-?"

"STOP THIS!"

All eyes went to the little candle-headed racer, her fist clenched but a horrid look of anger on her face.

"I'M NOT STUPID!" she bellowed, an unnaturally greenish glow in her mouth "STOP CALLIN' ME STUPID!"

The heat in the cell began to rise, the cuffs around Candlehead glowing the same color of green that soon surrounded her.

"D-don't just stand there you idiots!" shouted the bear claw "DO SOMETHIN'! HOLD HER DOWN! COOL HER DOWN!"

The small doughnut holes looked at each other in worry but they couldn't disobey an order. They rushed in but they hadn't even gotten a FOOT from the girl when they stopped, crying out as they HEAT hit them in the face.

"GOOD GOBS!" shouted one "What in the ARCADE is th-?!"

Candlehead let out an anger growl, forcing her hands UPWARDS and out of the cuffs, the remains falling to the ground before melting into a pile of burnt sugar.

"No way…." Whimpered one of the guards "I-it can't be-! THIS CAN'T-!"

"I'M!-"

Candlehead sat up, her eyes now glowing, waves of flames forming on her hands.

"NOT-!"

"Yeah, this is bad…"

**"STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPID!"**

In a great rush of fire and flames, the entire cell was ENGULFED, Candlehead sending out a torrent of fire throughout the area. The doughnut torturers didn't stand a chance in the melee, their screams accompanied by the sizzling sound of their burning flesh all before they crumpled to the ground, nothing but bubbling piles of sugar and ashes left of what was once there.

And then….

The flames died down.

Candlehead sat on the table, looking quite shocked at what had happened. She felt no more pain, no heat, no chills.

She looked above; the large blade had been scorched, the sharp end BENT BACK by the blast of heat, making it useless for cutting anything softer than butter.

Finally realizing what she had done, the girl let out a gasp, looking at her hands.

"W-what did I-?!"

The remains of the doughnut people lay around her. She shook her head franticly, backing off the table until she fell off.

"AAH!" she cried in pain but as her body hit the floor, another spark of flames came off of her. She looked down at her hands.

Fire.

Beautiful, green fire.

The same color as her hair.

It danced and whirled slowly around her hands in a near hypnotizing manner.

"D-Did I do this?" the girl whispered to herself, still unable to believe that she had any sort of power to cause such damage, let alone hurt people.

She waved a hand, the flames following.

A finger snap?

***SNAP!***

The flames sparked brightly, some pink and other colors showing up.

She looked up at the blade again, seeing her reflection on it once more.

There she was; her clothes were in tatters, some parts burned…

But the glow.

A beautiful, green glow.

It was all over her.

Her hands, her feet, her tummy….

Her eyes.

She reached out towards the blade, the thing glowing as her heat began to meld it once more. She pulled away, panting.

"C-Can I stop i-?"

_*Phwwwwiiiiish….*_

Coolness.

Silence.

The flames had died down. She reached out for the blade again.

It did not bend, it did not glow.

Could she touch people? Could she hug her friends?

She didn't know.

But there was one person she wanted to see.

The very thought of her made Candlehead angry once more, the flames starting to build again.

Her legs still swaying, Candlehead walked her way towards the door. She held out a hand.

The handle began to glow, it began to melt and with a large clank.

Off it came.

The door fell forward, Candlehead walking out into the light.

And every step she took, a little burn mark was left.

Had anyone been around, they would have seen how lifeless and dull Candlehead's eyes were.

The friendly racer, the one with the silly mind was gone.

Now, the only thing that remained was anger.

Anger…and fire.


	3. Adorabeezle

Torture Two- Adorabeezle

The smallest of the racers cried out as she was held roughly by the wrist and ankles, her little body no match for the large cookie guards that held her.

"Keep screamin'…." The first one said, his voice unkind and cold "But it's only gonna mess up your throat more."

The racer's cries lessened to soft little whimpers, the child fearing for her life as she was lead to her torture cell.

She never would have done those things to Vanellope had she been in her right mind. She never would have obeyed a stranger like King Candy had she actually been in control.

Adorabeezle? A BULLY?

She barely stood a SHOULDER height of the other racers and her peeps were even softer than a mouse's.

There HAD to be influence in order to get her to follow orders; there HAD to be.

Vanellope knew that.

But now, she didn't care.

The little girl was thrown into her cell, hitting the floor rather hard as she scooted away from her guards. She couldn't speak. She didn't want to with the way they were looking at her.

She knew she was in trouble now. She had tormented the precious princess of the game and that was an offense that was to be dealt with harshly!

She looked around, the damp dark confides of her cell feeling as if they were closing in around her.

What were the guards doing? Why were they just standing around her?

She huddled in fear, not wanting to find out…

But then.

"GET UP!"

The girl screamed, feeling ROPES snagging her around the wrist and ankles. She was then flung off into the air, her terrified shrieks echoing the halls but only accompanied by the cruel cackles of the guards.

What was happening? Why was she so high up?

She then looked down….

Dirty rats, hairy spiders, biting bugs.

All and everything that made the racer's skin crawl was there…and she was being lowered into it.

Vanellope knew about Adorabeezle's many fears; the dark, scary animals, speaking out in front of others.

She wasn't the shiest racer for a reason.

But the worst of those fears were being thrown right in her face, the pit filled to the brim with creatures, their squeaks, crackling and hissing making her sweat in fear.

They looked so hungry.

Hungry for SUGAR.

"Keep it steady…" another guard said "We wanna make sure these guys enjoy their dinner REAAAAAL slow!"

Dinner?

It was even worse than the girl had thought!

Even with as terrible as she felt, she at least thought that the worse the nasties would do would crawl over her. It would be UNCOMFORTABLE but she would still be in once piece.

But HUNGER?

FOOD?

No, this was too much.

Adorabeezle shook her head, looking down and down at the pit as it grew closer. She could no longer keep her mouth shut. She HAD to say something.

"STOP THIS!"

"It'll only make it worse."

The girl was sobbing, her pale skin pink from the tears "WHY IS EVERYONE SO MEAN! I-I DIDN'T WANT TO BE CONTROLLED BY KING CANDY! I DIDN'T WANT TO BE MEAN TO VANELLOPE!"

"Mean? Mean?"

The girl sniffed, hiccupping as she looked around the room. She could only see the guards but from the corner of her eye, there was an intercom.

"WE aren't the mean ones here, Beezie…"

Vanellope?

"After all, YOU didn't seem to protest against King Candy's orders did ya?"

The girl sobbed again; the princess was right. It wasn't as if any of the racers protested to what the King had said about Vanellope.

But the lies.

The stories.

The code.

EVERYONE in the game was effected….but they didn't listen.

No one ever listened.

The pit was getting closer, a rat reaching up and swiping at the racer's feet. She could feel its claws going through her stockings, the pain sharp. She cried out, seeing that the nasties were getting impatient, that they were more than happy to crawl atop each other to reach their prize.

"You were a BEAST, Beezie!" Vanellope cackled "So it would be fitting if ya saw other creatures JUST LIKE YOU!"

Adorabeezle's heart began to race the closer she got but it beat even more as she looked at the cackling mugs of the guards.

They were all on Vanellope's side, just like everyone in the arcade.

She felt weak again.

She felt small.

She felt powerless, like she always did.

Adorabeezle; the weakest of the racers, the one everyone could mold, the one who could be manipulated because she was so small.

So small,

So helpless.

But she was still a beast. She was a beast because she had been a bully.

The girl's hat slid off, the pit devouring it just like it would do to her soon. Her eyes twitched, the guards pointing.

"LIL BEAST! LIL BEAST! GONNA MAKE A FINE FEAST!"

Her lip trembled, her throat began to tighten.

She felt sick to her stomach but was it because of all the torture?

Or because of something else.

**BEAST! BEAST! BEAST! BEAST!**

Adorabeezle wanted to break out, she wanted to leap forth and finally have her way with those who pushed her around because she was so small, because she was so weak.

"SH-SHUT UP!"

The guards stopped, surprised at how LOUD the racer had said such words. Her eyes looked wild and fevered, her adorable features slowly melting away.

"STOP IT!" the girl shouted, her brows furrowing together "Y-YOU THINK YOU CAN GET AWAY WITH THIS BECAUSE YOU'RE BIGGER THAN ME?! I-I-I'LL-!

"Lower her fast!" said one of the guards "It looks like she's-!"

"LET ME GO!" the girl growled angrily, the snorting echoing off the bricks.

GROWLED?

She gritted her teeth, her clenched her hands.

Everything was going so fast, it was going so fast!

"RRRR-! Y-You think you're so much better than me b-b-because yo-you're bigger?! STRONGER?!"

She gripped the ropes again, the things starting to break away on her wrist.

Something was wrong. VERY wrong.

"Hurry, dip her in before-!"

Adorabeezle let out an angered GROWL, swinging her legs around though they were still caught in the ropes. She WANTED to break out and now, she was willing to do anything to do it! She pulled up as hard as her tiny legs could, the others surprised to find that she was actually applying some sort of FORCE to the things.

"WHOA!" said one of the guards "Um, is that a feature of her-!?"

***SNAP!***

Part of the rope broke off around the girl's wrist as she snarled at the other, her once tiny and chubby fingers tearing at them as if she had claws.

Wait…

She DIDN'T have claws, at least not a minuet ago.

The main cookie guard pushed the others away, stepping forward "What the HECK is goin' on here?!"

The ropes seemed to be squeaking around the girl's hold the more she thrashed. All became lost to her in that moment, her eyes down to pin-points and her nearly pearl skin flushing a strange marbled blue and white.

Fury.

That was all she saw.

She had been called a beast when she knew she wasn't.

She was just a shy little girl, just a little girl who wanted to race.

She wasn't a bully! She wasn't a beast!

But if that's what they wanted ….if they wanted it that badly….

The ropes SNAPPED, dropping the girl but she moved faster than the others could anticipate, her body landing hard on the ground next to the pit. The guards rushed in, somehow now filled with concern over the child they were supposed to be torturing.

"H-Hey…" one said, poking the trembling girl with a stick "Y-You okay?"

_*R-r-rip*_

A tear in the back of the girl's parka.

A few tufts of unknown fur peeking through the holes.

A low growl.

Scratching at the brick floor.

"K-kid?"

There came another poke but in a flash, Adorabeezle grabbed the stick, RIPPING it out of the guard's hand with such strength that HE fell into the pit instead. There was a scream, followed by the stomach churning sound of bone snapping and cookies crunching but Adorabeezle was death to the sounds.

***BA BUMP! BA BUMP!***

_"Rrrrrrr-!"_

"W-what the heck is-!?"

And then she turned.

**"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"**

The cookie guards saw nothing but teeth and rage as Adorabeezle stood before them, her form changing quickly, and over-towering, before them. Her skin faded even more, snow white and dark blue patches of fur puffing up around her face, arms and legs, her perfectly straight teeth growing larger and sharper, nestled in sickly blue gums. Her tiny hands and feet burst through her shoes and stockings, replaced by large clawed paws. Two cragged horns jutted from her forehead and…

"WHAT THE WHAT!?" the second guard cried "I THOUGHT SHE WAS JUST A K-!"

Another massive bray, one strong enough to blow the two off their feet.

A beast.

A giant, snow beast.

That's what they had called Adorabeezle…and that's what she had become.

"W-WHAT IS-!"

The girl swung her arm, knocking the two cookies onto a wall and knocking them out but she didn't stop there! Not with how she was feeling!

Another massive roar filled the room as the beast took ahold of everything it could find, swinging it around, hurling it on walls, on windows, roaring and screaming.

It was funny how things had turned.

Adorabeezle was the smallest of the bunch, seen as the weakest, the least likely to spring forth on anyone in anger.

But things were all different now.

Was she all there though? From the way she was behaving, there was no longer a Candy Racer in control, just anger and fear.

Pure anger and fear.

Seeing that there was nothing left to destroy, the large monster ran towards the door, knocking it over with ease. It ran on all fours down the halls, crushing and breaking everything in its path.

"BEEZIE?!"

Stop.

A familiar name?

Her name.

The massive snow beast stopped, turning around to see a familiar figure standing before it.

Nougetsia.

OR was it?

The other racer looked so different, her skin also as white as snow, drifts of ice and snow flakes forming around her. The two stood before each other for a moment, neither speaking.

And then…memories.

Adorabeezle began to remember EVERYTHING.

How did she become this? Was it something in her code? She moaned, stooping down and covering her head with her paws.

"N-no, no…it's okay." said the other racer, placing a hand on the snow beast's head.

It felt so sold…but then it began to warm.

"It's fine…" Nougetsia smiled "Do not fret…"

There was some comfort found between the two as the other racer calmed her sister, but she raised her head.

Nougetsia had changed as well, so did that mean things were the same as the others? Adorabeezle rose, looking down and hoping that her sister knew what she was speaking through her eyes. With an icy glare, Nougetsia turned, pointing a finger north.

"The throne is this way…." The girl growled, a thin sheet of ice following her wake "I am sure you have some choice words for our princess, don't you?"


	4. Jubileena

Torture Three – Jubileena

Unlike the other racers, why was poor little Jubileena thrown inside a cage?

For what reason, no one knew. Perhaps just to humor the princess who wanted to see her subjects suffer as much as possible. After all, this was HER revenge so she could play the controls whichever way she wanted.

The little cherry racer shivered in fear as she was carried through the dark and dank dungeon, feeling so isolated and scared after she had been separated from the others.

Where were they? She just wanted to see if they were okay.

But was SHE going to be okay?

"OUT!" the choco-banana guard growled as he rolled the cage onto the ground, the racer tumbling out of it. Quick as a wink, Jubi flipped herself up and made a run for the door but like the others, it was locked tight and there was no way she could escape. She didn't bother screaming, knowing that there was no one on the other side but she still clawed and kicked, hoping against hope that somehow she would bust her way out.

"Yeah, keep tryin' kid!" a large choco-banana said, laughing meanly "I'm sure you'll get out in 'bout a few DAYS or so!"

Jubileena turned around, a tear running down her cheeks. Even in the face of her tormenters, she tried to stay brave, if not for herself then for the others.

She was Jubileena Bing-Bing! Brightest and most upbeat racer on the track! There was no way she was going to let the sick thoughts of the kingdom bring her down.

That's what she at least told herself.

After receiving a painful slap in the face, she quickly began to rethink the idea. She sat on the ground, her hand on her cheek and tears in her eyes.

"C-C'mon, why are ya doin' this ta us?!" the girl said, a little anger in her voice "We never went this far with Vanellope!"

"It stacks up…" said a guard "Fifteen years is a long time ya know. So don't cha think that after a while, fifteen years of bullying would add up to somethin' like this?"

The girl growled again but another guard quickly moved in and scooped her off the ground, her arms and legs thrashing in the air.

"PUT ME DOWN YA BANANA BRAINED BRUTE!" she cried, her little pigtails swinging "Do ya really think I'm gonna let ya CANDY-HANDLE me like this?!"

The guard didn't feel at all threatened by the girl, knowing that as the stronger of those in the room Jubi wasn't going anywhere soon.

"Gotta lotta sass for someone so small…" the guard said as he then tied Jubileena down on a table, the girl still kicking "Let's see if you have that much ta say once we get through."

The cherry racer continued to kick in anger; she screamed, she cried, she clawed the table, but it was just no use.

She wasn't going ANYWHERE.

"Start the drill…"

DRILL?

**_*ZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*_**

Jubileena knew that sound…she knew it well from going with the others to the dentist, keeping them upbeat while the procedures went on. She herself never had a cavity in her life so what in the arcade was this contraption doing in front of her?

"Such pretty little teeth…" the first guard said "Vanellope said you had the best and brightest smile in all the kingdom…."

Jubileena began to sweat bullets, gulping "T-then tell her I said thank ya for that…."

"We have an even better idea…" the second guard said "Since Vanellope LOVES your teeth so much, she decided that she WANTED THEM."

Jubi went from bright pink to stone cold white, her teeth already aching from the thoughts.

"Yeeees, all of them…." Cackled a voice on the intercom "All of those teeth to decorate my palace. They are so bright and so white, like pearls….but stronger than pearls. It's a shame though that such teeth have to be wasted in a nasty little mouth like yours! But no more!"

Jubileena tightened her lips around her mouth but it did nothing to slow the actions of the guards, one of them roughly taking her chin.

"OPEN UP, BRAT!"

Jubileena kicked again, shaking her head no. If she was going down, she wasn't going to go down without a fight!

"I SAID OPEN UP!" the guard said, taking a sharp instrument and poking Jubi on the lips. She cried out from the poking but still refused to open wide, the drill inching closer and closer to her face, so close she could feel the air blowing against her eyelashes.

"Hey, get the straps!"

MORE straps?

A figure went over Jubileena, its large fingers prying open her mouths as painful and rust covered straps and muzzles went inside her maw, prying open her mouth. The cherry racer could only imagine how FRIGHTENING she looked in such a position but she didn't even want to think.

All she could think about was the drill and the beaming faces of her 'caring dentists' around her.

"Which one shall we start with first? Incisors, bicuspid, molar?"

"Or should we just bust them all out now?"

Tears began to form in Jubi's eyes as the metal continued to cut her lips and gums. She screamed, but it came out in an odd gurgle, spit frothing in her mouth.

"Wider! WIDER!"

She continued to scream, louder and louder, harder and harder!

*POP!*

All of a sudden, the drilling stopped. The guards looked around, seeing nothing.

"You hear that?"

The other shrugged.

Must have been something outside.

*POP!*

There it was again.

Jubi opened an eye, realizing that the popping sound was awfully close. Close…as in near her ears.

Still panting from the drill, she looked around, her entire body tingling all over.

***POP!***

There it was again.

***POP!* *POP!***

It sounded like corks going off around Jubi's ears but then….

Her ties?

The cherry hair ties.

They glowed, they shook, they POPPED!

"WHOAH!" shouted a guard, backing away as he watched the glowing mass of balls burning red hot "Back away guys! That's-!"

***BOOM!***

A larger explosion!

Jubi let out a struggled scream as she could feel the little orbs on her hair BURSTING off her person and onto the guards, covering them in what appeared to be burning hot cherry goo!

"**_AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURGH!_**" screamed the first guard, crying out in agony as the syrup covered him from head to toe.

"THE HECK IS THAT-?!"

The orbs grew larger, shooting off of Jubileena and onto her tormentors, the molten goo spraying everywhere. The guards all lay in a pile as they writhed in pain, the red mash smoking on the ground. Jubi looked up at the drill, the thing now slowly making its way down towards her but as she was still trapped, there was no way she could escape.

She shut her eyes, the drill only a mere inch from her when-!

***KABOOM!***

Another orb exploded on the drill, the syrup making its way into the inner workings of the device, gumming up the works and causing it to finally stop.

What had just happened?

Either way, Jubi didn't want to stay around to find out!

To her luck, some of the still hot syrup began to drip onto the leather straps that held her, burning through their hold. Her hands free, the racer reached up and freed herself from the mouth device. She hopped off the table and tumbled onto the floor, spitting out some of the blood that had formed in her mouth.

"W-Wow!" she panted, wiping her mouth "The heck was that?!"

She reached up, her hat falling off as she felt her hair bands. Somehow, they had reformed but as she moved her hands down.

"H-Hey!"

The orbs now levitated around her hands, her hair now billowing out.

What was happening? What were these things? She took another look at her hands, noticing a large red circle had formed on both the tops and palms.

The orbs, whatever they were…they seemed to be following her every movement, her every thought.

She had to test this.

She looked over towards a wall; a perfect target. She flicked her right hand, an orb sailing off towards the distance before landing with a large POW on the bricks, the hot syrup eating away at the surface like some sort of acid.

**CHERRY ACID.**

The girl looked at the spots, another orb instantly forming and replacing the one that had been thrown.

So she was producing the orbs…but why?

Why was this happening?

The girl sat on the floor of the cell, the guards half-eaten away by the cherry bombs that had been launched at them. Jubileena didn't know what to do or feel.

On one hand, she was scared. Scared out of her life.

She never intended to HURT the guards! She never wanted to hurt anyone!

But on the other….

She was alone in the cell, a few sounds off in the distance catching her attention.

Were those the other racers?

If she wanted to know, she was going to have to go and find out. She stood on her feet and ran towards the door. Placing an ear on the surface, she could hear the faint voices of others.

_"Guys!"_

She looked down at the rotating orbs, the things spreading out as more began to circle her hips and head, like some sort of halo.

One hand went out.

*Pop*

*Pop*

***BOOM!***

The door was blown away in a blast of hot syrup.

And one cherry racer made her way down the halls.


	5. Crumbellina

Torture Four- Crumbellina

The racer held her head up high though her heart felt low. Her chains were heavy against her wrist, the metal clanking together as she walked.

"This way, little miss…" said a Oreo guard, leading her down into the dungeon.

Crumbellina remembered this place, she remembered it well. King Candy wasn't afraid of throwing a few of his 'subjects' into the place when they had won one or two races over him and in the fifteen years he had been in control, Crumbellina had seen her share of the place.

But she never thought that Vanellope would put it to use, especially when it seemed that she would be a much better ruler than someone such as Candy.

The girl was seeing the truth though; some things hadn't changed but in this case, it was going to get a lot worse. At least Candy never TORTURED his racers, knowing that in doing so some of his artificial sweetness would show through.

What was going to happen? The girl hated to know.

The further she got down the stairs, more of her fancy clothing began to be taken from her but she continued to hold her head high. She might have cried at first but she remembered her name and her pride.

Or what was left of it.

"Cookies and caramel…" one of the guards, a rather tough looking lollipop lady said as she looked down at the small racer "I heard your story. So rich, so high…."

The lollipop smirked, licking her fingers.

"Not as high as the princess but still, a girl with class."

"Indeed…" said a voice over the intercom. Crumbellina looked up, instantly identifying the voice as that of her princess.

"Princess?"

"So now you address me correctly?" sang Vanellope "Ah well, better late than never ya big softy…."

Crumbellina blushed a bit; she always did when people called her that.

"Y-you know that I do not like to be addressed that way…at least in such a manner."

"But its so ENDEARING!" Vanellope laughed "Just like GLITCH!"

Glitch.

That word that Crumbellina and the others had used so much against Vanellope.

"Admit it, Bellina….You're a softy inside. All that hard stuff? Its just for show….but I would LOVE ta see how long ya keep it up with this!"

Crumbellina said nothing, looking away. She kicked herself on the inside for not expecting this. Had she had any sense, she would have done something to ensure she and the others wouldn't have gotten caught but there she was, awaiting her punishment. She breathed in deep, her eyes closing.

"Fine then, your highness." She said, her voice as refined as ever "I am ready…."

The lollipop kicked her forward, sending her into what looked to be some sort of iron oven. It was cold to the touch though, the sides a little slippery. Her heavy shackles still on, she lifted a finger and put it in her mouth.

Butter?

Rich cream?

What was this?

"You have a taste for all things sweet and succulent, the taste of a pampered little brat like you…" called the voice, shutting the door "So I think in this case, you should become what you eat!"

The girl's eyes widened; she knew the saying all too well and knowing how LITERAL things were in Sugar Rush…

She rushed towards the door, slamming it with all her weight but it wouldn't budge.

"CRUMBS!"

"Oh, there will be plenty, once we're done with you!"

There was a loud rumble, the iron box shaking. To the girl's shock, a deluge of eggs began to spill into the cast, covering her from head to toe. She screamed, slipping on the floor but before she could get up, more things began to pour in.

Sugar, butter, flour.

Caramel.

So much caramel.

It began to dawn on the girl what was about to happen.

She was going to be BAKED into a giant caramel cookie, possibly to be served to the princess and whoever else the child delighted in having with her.

Crumbellina began to whimper as the entire room began to slowly spin, but she remained strong.

Strong as the toughest cookie she could think of.

_"This is the mixing…_" she thought to herself, the entire cast working like some sort of giant mixer. Crumbellina tried to find herself steady on the ground but it was impossible. She fell again, getting swept away in the forming batter, the muck rising and rising, threatening to drown her before she was even baked.

She couldn't swim, the weight on her arms pulling her in deeper but she kicked as hard as she could her legs. The levels began to rise, the girl finding that it was taking longer and longer for her feet to reach the bottom and that was something she DIDN'T want to happen.

She had to survive! She HAD to!

She couldn't let this torture get to her. Even if Vanellope dished it out, it didn't mean she had to give in so soon!

But it was an uphill battle, one that she was quickly losing. The more she struggled, the more she sank, the more ingredients were added.

She was getting soft, she was getting tired.

But she had to be a tough cookie, at least before she was turned into one.

"H-GURP!-HELP!" she gasped, her head breaking the surface of the batter but she knew there was no one to help her, no one who WANTED to help her. She continued to struggle and gasp, the caramel swirls going into her mouth and nose.

So much caramel, her favorite sweet.

Now it was going to be the death of her.

She coughed and hacked, trying to keep on the surface but the batter was just too thick and dense; she couldn't get a good grip on it and thanks to her shackles, she was being pulled down in deeper!

"More caramel?" said the lollipop "OKAY!"

More of the sticky goo filled the cast, the child screaming out in horror as she was covered.

She was now completely swamped, her body sinking deeper and deeper into the bubbling batter.

She could taste it, the sickly sweet froth filling her mouth.

Down, down, down she went, her body falling limp in the batter as she drifted within.

"Is this is?" she thought, her mind slowly trailing off "I never thought it was going to end like this….no….never."

The batter seemed to go on deeper than she thought and for some reason, it began to thin out, becoming cloudy but she could see through it. What little bit of light there was shined down on the girl.

Was this a dream? Was this the end?

Caramel.

Nothing but pure caramel.

She could feel it hardening around her hands, her feet, her face.

Was it baking? It didn't feel hot enough for it to be so.

She could feel her heart beaten hard within her chest.

No….

NO!

She didn't want things to end like this! She wasn't going to be tortured like this!

She was Crumbellina DiCarmello!

She tried to say something but only bubbles rose from her lungs. She spoke again, the caramel traveling deeper and deeper within her. The batter filled and surrounded her but….

"I can breathe?"

She was still but her lungs and heart still beat. Her eyes were still open as they looked up.

She felt funny.

Her fingers began to move slowly, feeling a crackle of hard caramel around them.

Caramel.

Pure caramel.

"Be a tough cookie…." The girl thought to herself "But still be refined…."

Tough.

Refined.

Suddenly, the caramel tasted sweeter than ever.

"Turn on the oven…" the lollipop said, signaling to her partner. The other guard gave a nod but a loud crash stopped him.

"Ya hear that?"

The lollipop looked inside, surprised to see that even without the heat, some baked cookies began to crumble from the cast, the crumbles spilling out onto the floor.

"Er, hold that thought!" the lollipop said "Somethin's-!"

There was a great crash as the door to the cast blew off its hinges, the strong smell of cookies and caramel filling the room. The two guards were knocked off their feet but what stood before them shocked them into silence.

A small figure.

Soft tan skin, dark brown hair, tattered clothing.

But along that skin were jagged edges of what seemed to be caramel, the candy marbling the figure's skin.

And then….

Two eyes opened, a golden glow within.

_"Is…is that the kid?!" _

Crumbellina said nothing, only smiling as she took small steps towards the two guards, the two not noticing that with each step the girl look any and all cookies began to float around her, the floor also gaining a crumbly texture.

"S-stay back!" the second guard said "You're supposed to be a cookie by now!"

"But I am…." Crumbellina said, her voice calm "And I guess I should have you to thank for it."

"What do y-you me-?"

The girl put out a hand, touching the guard on the forehead. He stood there, petrified as he shook.

"You shall see…"

"H-Hey, what are ya doin'?!" called the lollipop "You're supposed to-!"

There was a soft crackling noise, the guard making a choking sound. The lollipop rushed forward but just as she was about to grab her partner she watched in horror as they slowly began to harden…

Harden into a cookie.

"W-WHAT?!"

The guard faded, its form nothing more than baked flour and sugar, some rivers of caramel going through.

Pure caramel.

This couldn't have been real but as the lollipop looked down at the girl, she knew that whatever torture she had put upon her was about to come back a thousand fold.

But the girl looked so sweet, so tranquil.

"St-stay back! Stay back ya FREAK!"

Freak?

Crumbellina arched a brow at the word, shaking her head.

"That is a DIRTY word…." The girl said, walking gracefully towards the guard "I was hoping that staff in such a high place would carry themselves a lot better…."

The girl scowled, an evil smirk appearing on her face.

"But since ya wanna play drty-!"

Crumbellina lifted up her hand, the cookie statue and many others levitating in her control.

"Not so soft now, AM I?"

And with one large swing….

***CRUNCH!***

There was silence in the room as Crumbellina looked around, finding her hat and coat. She brushed the clothing off, putting them on without a care.

"I guess its time for me to vacate…." She sighed, flipping her hair back and not even stopping to put them back into their usual buns.

The girl stood where she was but held out a hand. The floor began to tremble, it began to shake….

And with one large CRASH.

A large portion of the cookie floor broke off, levitating under the girl's control. It took some amount of control but she found that she could get it to move to her will.

"So they wanna see someone TOUGHER, do they?" the girl growled, waving a hand and breaking away a large portion of the wall. Her eyes suddenly became darker "Ask and thou shall receive!"


	6. Gloyd

Torture Five – Gloyd

"LET ME GO, BUTT FARTS!" the pumpkin racer spit, roughly kicking his way with the guards.

The boy was angry, the boy was FURIOUS.

After everything that had been done, after everything that had been said, he was in no mood to be pulled around and tortured like this.

"So what's the lil goblin gonna do now?" cackled a cookie guard "You act so tough when you're in control of the jokes, but it seems the tables have turned!"

Gloyd growled again, reaching back and KICKING the guard in the face, a nasty smirk on his face.

Next time, he was going to use BOTH feet.

The guard recovered quickly, pulling Gloyd's hat down and tossing him into the dungeon.

"Lil brat! Try doin' that once we got ya held down!"

The little pumpkin racer lifted his fist, just aching to pop someone in the mouth. Ever since he had been dragged from his home, Gloyd was in no mood to play with anyone, orders or not. Vanellope had turned on him and the others, her reach over the other racers no better than what King Candy had done to their minds for so long.

But the guard was right about one thing; Gloyd definitely did not like it when the joke was on the other foot, the boy on the receiving end this time.

He looked about, seeing some guards paying no mind to him as they stood with their backs turned. He was expecting something more but why bother tempting fate at a time like this? He had to keep on his toes or else another nasty surprise would blow up in his face.

His eyes darted about the dark room, he could see that the door was locked but there was a window. Barred yes, but he could find a way to get out.

Gloyd always had a trick up his sleeve.

"Hey mush-mouths!" the boy cried "Whaddya waitin' for? I ain't gettin' any younger here!"

Again, the guards said nothing, their backs turned upon the boy. Curiosity getting the better of him, Gloyd inched closer, a hand reaching out towards the guards….

And then….

A jet of water blasted through the group, hitting the pumpkin racer so hard that he was blown back against the wall. He cried out in pain but the water didn't stop, his body feeling as if it were being POUNDED.

"Jokes are your thing!" a voice said over the intercom "I know so many that you played on me!"

Vanellope?

The water still rushing on him, the racer forced his way down to the ground, catching his breath and spitting out the water that had gone into his mouth.

Jokes?

Yes, he was a lover of jokes and all things creepy but he never went this far!

Even…

Even on the glitch?

He couldn't remember it too well, so many of the pranks coming together in one huge cloud but he did remember playing much more on Vanellope whenever he got the chance to.

But nothing THIS bad.

"Laugh it up, Pumpkin boy!" jeered a guard "Let's see how much you can take of your own classics!"

The hose…it must have been an 'upgrade' of the time he sprang in with the water-pistols on everyone. As he was led away, he could only imagine what was to come next! Gloyd found himself bound by rope, a hook going onto the back of his…..

Underwear?

The boy blinked "Uh, what has Nelly been watchin'?!"

"Ready?"

The boy paled, gulping hard.

This could only mean one thing!

"MEGA WEDGIE!"

Gloyd let out a pained YOWL as he was lifted off the ground but it didn't end there. The rope began to swing, swing, SWING, adding to the terrible taste of agony he was feeling.

Not only was he incredibly uncomfortable but being thrown around wasn't helping him in any way.

All those pumpkin puff treats before bed were NOT a good idea.

"Urrph!" he meeped, turning a little green "I think I'm gonna HU-!"

There was a sudden jolt as the boy found himself flung hard towards a wall, his body impacting before sailing down into another unknown pit. He landed with a loud CRASH but he had no time to recover as a wave of painful pinches and snaps covered his entire body. He screamed with agony, his eyes opening wide to find himself laying in a pit filled with various candy snap-traps.

The same traps he had used on the others….but most of all Vanellope.

"YAAAURGH! Where'd you get these?!" Gloyd bellowed, finding that every move me made only resulted in another tap going off in his face "OW! HEY! That was just a MOUSE TRAP! That shouldn't count!"

Fingers were caught, toes were caught.

The ears, the nose, the sides.

All were being painfully snapped but it wasn't over for the boy. Not by a long shot.

"Time for phase three…."

Still in the midst of the painful snapping, the boy felt the floor give way, the traps flowing through the room like water as he tumbled down. He landed hard upon a conveyor belt, heavy straps preventing any sort of escape. Though his body was still aching, and his bottom a little sore, he wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to cry in the face of his tormentors.

"H-Haha! HAHAHA!" he laughed, his voice unhinged "Y-Ya call those PRANKS! Rookies! I've done better things in my SLEEP!"

"Well…if all goes according to plan…perhaps a few of these WILL put ya to sleep!"

That voice…

The boy scowled.

"Vanellope…." He growled, gripping harder onto his straps "I knew you'd be too prissy ta come down here yourself. What? Too up an' mighty ta get some blood on your dress, PRINCESS?"

"I'm sorry dear, but there are far too many of you to watch right now for me to come at once!" the girl giggled on the intercom "I'd have to hike throughout the entire castle just to see the looks on your faces so I guess this will have to do."

The boy snickered again, something rather off about his voice "PffftHAHAHA! Vanellope is still a baby, eh?! That's the only answer!"

His eyes shrunk, his smile widened.

"BABY! BABY! VANELLOPE IS-!"

"Give him the Indian Burn."

The boy stopped, looking up ahead to see mechanical arms reaching out for him, each one red hot. His skin began to blister even from a distance but no amount of struggling was going to save him now.

"N-no! NO! NOOOOOOOOO!"

The arms reached out, their vice-grips snagging his tiny limbs and BURNING through the skin. The sound of sizzling flesh filled the room but it was drowned out by the boy's horrid screams. Only Vanellope's laugh was louder.

"Oh, do you need ice for that? We have PLENTY!"

The belt made a sudden dive, plunging the still kicking Gloyd into a vat of ice cold water. The relief might have been there for a second but the temperatures began to drop and the boy found himself running out of air.

"The old ice water trick! A classic!"

Gloyd's chest began to hurt, his lungs unable to take the pressure nor his body unable to take the cold.

"Gotta get out! GOTTA GET OUT!" he thought, his eyes twitching, his hat bobbing up to the surface.

He was about to breathe in, he was about to take the final involuntary gasp but…

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAURGH!"

Out of the water he was pulled, the straps coming lose as he flew through the air, his eyes upon the many guards as he sailed into another cell. He slid to the floor, surprised that he could be both cold and severally burned at the same time. He shivered, hacking up water but at least he was on dry land.

Things seemed safe now.

But he knew it wasn't going to last long.

The door slammed shut, locking him within a glass prison.

"H-Hey!" he stammered, reaching up as best he could "W-what is-?!"

***BOOM!***

The boy screamed, looking around to find that some sort of BOMB had gone off in the room, the tiny space now filling with smoke. He coughed, the thick black cloud choking the entire room.

Pumpkin smoke-bombs.

His all-time favorite.

And now it was being used as the final torture.

***BOOM!***

Another bomb landed in the room, the area becoming darker. The boy struggled to breathe, realizing that as he was in a locked room, there was no way that clean air could circulate in the area.

Vanellope was planning, after all the horrible injuries he had gotten, to CHOKE the boy on his own smoke.

"L-LET ME OUT!" Gloyd screamed, his mind going haywire as he pounded on the door "LET ME OUT!"

The guards all stood around and watched, evil smiles on their faces as they watched the boy struggle.

"You thought you were sneaky, you thought you were smart to pull off suck tricks on our princess?!"

"You thought you could disappear like a ghost in thin air! Never to be caught! Never to be punished!"

Gloyd was starting to black out but he could still hear the sounds of the jeers around him, the pointing, the laughing, the cackling.

Slowly, the fear he had of breathing in the smoke began to die.

He looked at them all, his eyes wide and huge but the more he watched, the more he wanted to do.

He was Gloyd Orangeboar. Top trickster of Sugar Rush!

NO!

The entire arcade!

He wasn't going to allow himself to be brought down by such novel tortures. He knew better. He knew he could do better. He knew he could do much more than what was being done to him.

The laughter began to echo but as the echoing continued, it seemed to warp in his mind.

They were all just standing there, standing there for the taking.

He clenched his fist, a smile appearing on his face.

_"Hehehehehe….."_

No one heard the laugh.

"Hehehekekekekekekekekek!"

Again, the sound was heard by no one.

**"KEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKEKKEEKEKEKEK!"**

"Wait…" a guard said, pushing the others back "Hold on a second there!"

**KAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKA!**

Gloyd was on his knees, laughing up a storm as the smoke continued to billow around him. He didn't seem to notice he was suffocating, the laughing only continuing.

"I DISAPPEAR INTO THE NIGHT!"

"Whoa, think we finally broke him?"

"LIKE A GHOST I CREEP, LIKE A GHOST I FLY! INTO THE NIGHT SKY I GO!" the boy continued to shout around madly, banging his head against the window "YOU shall NEVER catch me! DO YOU KNOW WHY?!"

Silence filled the room but all eyes were on Gloyd, the boy still laughing up a storm. The racer was starting to feel odd, the smoke around him billowing about and swirling around like some sort of cocoon but rather than try to avoid it, he began to breathe it in.

Deep, DEEP breathes of pumpkin smoke and ashes. It made him feel powerful, it made him feel unstoppable.

The laughter only grew deeper, more maddened, more threatening.

From the inside, he could feel his body warping….but he LIKED it.

He liked this new, strange feeling.

It was something new.

Something BEWITCHING.

"Kekekek, pumpkins! KEKEKEK! BOMBS! KEKEKEKEKEK! TRICK OR TREAT!"

His fingers began to blacken as rivers or red embers peeked through, smoke pouring from them.

"Ehehehehe! Tricks?! YOU WANT TRICKS?!"

Now smoke was starting to pour from his mouth and nose, his eyes glowing as if they were being lit from within.

"Eheh! Nnk! NNNK! I have somethin' in store for YOOOOU!" he cried "Pfft! Somet'in GOOOOD!"

The smoke seemed to pour into the room, becoming thicker and darker with each second. The guards coughed, the burning cloud scorching their throat and lungs.

"W-what is th-?!"

"Click click BOOM!" came a voice hidden in the shadows "Watch out before ya get CAUGHT!"

A massive explosion rocked the area, glass and smoke going everywhere. Once everything settled, the group looked around but they saw nothing. One peered over towards the cell but found it to be empty, Gloyd not found.

"Where'd the kid go?!"

There was a heavy clank as the lights went out….but then.

Two glowing eyes.

One glowing SINISTER smile.

One that was UPSIDE down.

All eyes went to the source, a sickly orange glow starting to fill the area.

And there before them floated a boy.

A boy covered in soot and smoke, but with a glowing head.

A glowing head…like a Jack-o-Lantern.

"Boo."

Gloyd flipped himself over and landed gracefully, the guards stepping back from the tiny child.

"I heard that da Princess likes tricks…" the monstrous boy said "Well…perhaps she would like somethin' a lil more EXCITING!"

The boy hopped into the air, snapping his fingers as all the devices that had been laid out for him suddenly seemed to fall into his control. A few smoke bombs floated around him but they suddenly transformed, looking like glowing pumpkins, their mouths cut into twisted smiles.

"Smoke bombs anyone?"

Gloyd drew back an arm and CHUCKED the things at the guards, the surprisingly tiny bombs so powerful that they OBLITERATED all that was hapless enough to be caught in the blast, cookie crumbs and sprinkles going everywhere. The boy cackled loudly, his voice warped and broken.

"Oooh! But I gots MORE!"

He reached for a few snap traps, twirling them in his hands.

"These were cute!" he smiled "But I think they need ta be PUMPED UP!"

With a snap of the fingers, the traps grew larger, and larger….

AND LARGER!

But that wasn't the worst of it. The traps seemed to become sentient, growling like DOGS as they took a gaze upon the delectable guards below.

"N-Nice trap-doggies…." One cowered "D-Don't bite! DON'T-!"

Too late.

The traps leapt forward, snagging the sweet guards in their jaws and RIPPING them to shreds.

All while a mischievous little boy floated above, watching his tricks act on his command. He blew his nails, rubbing them against his chest.

"Mmm, nice trail run….but I think its 'bout time we took our act on da road!"

Gloyd plummeted to the ground, reaching out a hand towards the device table.

"I need that!"

A few items floated towards him, constructing themselves around him. He then looked to the right.

"Need dat too!"

More items flew towards him, forming into some sort of weird suit, one composed of his favorite 'toys' and tricks. Feeling rather proud of himself, the boy strutted out the door, his two large trap-dogs following.

"Well, I wonder if a few of my surprises will lighten the princess's mood!"

The halls were only silent for a second, Gloyd walking out but as he got further and further into the castle.

**_"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAKAAAAAAAA!"_**


	7. Swizzle

Torture Five – Swizzle

"What's it gonna take ya guys to understand we're sorry!" the racer protested as he was being lead down the halls "Do you NOT understand how this will merit if the rest of the arcade finds out?! Vanellope won't be seen as sweet if she does this! She'll be no better than T-!"

"Oh, shut it!" called the guard, smacking Swizz in the mouth "All those brains an' ya ain't got the sent to shut up!?"

Swizzle moaned, shaking his head before turning his look upon the guard "Yeah, I AIN'T shuttin' up because if Vanellope is free to act as she pleases, I can too! Once I make it outta here, there won't be a place in this arcade that'll know what she-!"

Another sock to the mouth was given, this one just hard enough to send the poor boy into a tail spin. He groaned, seeing stars all over.

"Y-Ya think all these hits scare me? I-I've been launched into space by MINTY! I've had more!"

"Get the chair ready…."

The chair?

Swizz felt a large pit of despair forming in his gut at the very thought of it "Hoo boy….can't wait to see what wonders are waitin' on THAT thing…"

At first glance, the chair looked innocent enough; just something made of hardened chocolate grahm crackers with plenty of extra sticky roll-up straps to keep him glued in for good measure. He was thrown roughly in, all struggling useless with how adhered he had become to the seat.

"Yeah…" he panted "Yeah, I know what I did was wrong but at least I'm mature enough ta own up ta it!"

The boy felt his heart pounding and the insides of his brain storming away with anger.

"AT LEAST I HAVE THE HUMAN CAPACITY TO SHOW MERCY! UNLIKE SOME SPOILED LIL CAVITY!"

"Ya mean, meeee?" Vanellope said over the intercom "Oh, Mr. Malarkey, I couldn't help but hear those lovely words ya had for me! They make my heart go a flutter."

"Save it princess…" the boy growled "An' ta think, I was hopin' that somethin' would change here. But I guess ya took a few lessons from ol' King Candy Pants, didn't ya?"

"More than ya know…" the girl tittered "After all, I've been on the bitin' end of his hunts for YEARS! Don't cha think I would pick up somethin' along the way?"

For the first time, Swizz was left silent. He knew that King Candy did have it out for Vanellope but he was unaware of some of the things that the girl might have gone through during his reign.

And it wasn't as if the bullying he had participated in helped any of that but the boy still fought on. After learning what Candy had done to his memory codes for so long, he was mad enough but to go through even worse tortures at the hand of the real princess, the person they were really supposed to feel safe under?

That was when the final straw was thrown.

"Ah, ya know what I liked best about ya Swizz?"

The boy grunted "What, PRINCESS?"

"That big juicy brain of yours!" the girl said "It's always full of so many ideas, including ways to annoy ME!"

The boy gulped, the usually rosiness of his cheeks fading.

"So I thought, what would be the perfect way to torture you than to use your brain against you!"

"H-how so?"

"Oh, you'll see! You'll see!"

The lights then went off in the room, the body surrounded by darkness and silence.

"H-Hello?"

No reply.

"H-Hello?"

Again, there was nothing.

"Oh, c'mon. Don't tell me the torture here it leavin' me BORED ta death!"

"SWIZZLE MALARKEY!"

The boy let out a scream as he looked up at an enormous cookie guard, his fist looking as if they were ready to do some pounding against the boy. He shrank a bit in his bounds, an unpleasant feeling coming upon him.

"Ah, I don't suppose YOU'RE here ta get me-?"

"What is pie?!"

"Pi?"

"PIE!"

"Um, it's the ratio of a circle's circumference in-!"

"Wrong!" the guard shouted, suddenly giving the racer a painful and powerful shock to his stomach. The boy cried out in pain as the bolts flowed through him, twitching once it was over.

"I-! Uurgh! DUDE!" he cried out, still twitching "Ya didn't even let me finish…an' I was on tha right track!"

"We said PIE!" the guard said "What is PIE!"

"PI IS THE RA-!"

This time, Swizz was subjected to several blows to his already aching stomach, the boy gasping for air.

Wait.

He got it.

Pie.

Of course the entire question would be a joke for him.

"P-pie is…" he panted "Pie is a baked good that is filled with various fillin's an-!"

"WRONG! WE SAID PI!"

The torture this time?

Several hard iron brush-strokes on the palm of his exposed feet, the pain EXCRUCIATING. The boy yelled out at the top of his lungs, looking angrier than ever.

"You said PIE! WHICH ONE DO YOU WANT?!"

"Whatever we feel like it!" the guard said, once again shocking Swizz but this time doing it to his forehead. The boy screamed as he felt the jolts coursing through every inch of his body and code but as he could not move, there was no way he could escape. He was TRAPPED!

He slumped in a smoking heap in the chair, his eyes spinning as he tried to focus on the guard.

"J-Just TRY me…"

"What happens when you really take the cake?!"

Swizz shook his head, not expecting a question to come up so soon "W-what!? How does that make-?!"

***ZAP!***

"If a tree falls in the peppermint forest does it make a sound when its mouth is covered?!"

"How am I supposed to answer TH-!?"

***SMACK!***

"If a train leaves the station at three o'clock while another is getting there at four, how long does it take to boil water in the break room in Street Fighter?!"

"Give me three second to-!"

***CRACK!***

None of the questions were making sense to Swizz and even worse, the more he couldn't answer, the more he got punished. He tried to talk but with each turn, something else would appear to inflict pain on his little body.

Scratches on the arms and legs, punches to the stomach.

Shocks, burns, pinches and tweezes.

Anything that could be done, WAS done.

But the questions.

The questions were the worst of the lot.

Vanellope KNEW that Swizz loved to give his brain a jog every chance he got but to give him questions he COULDN'T answer, and at the risk of hurting him to boot, was something that she knew was the perfect punishment for him.

Voice began to encircle the poor boy from every direction but he could not answer a single one of them.

"STOP IT!" he wailed, wanting to hold his pounding head in his hands "I CAN'T ANSWER THIS STUFF! Urugh, I don't think even YOU can answer this…"

What is-!?

How can-?!

Why?!

Are?!

You?!

Crying?!

Swizzle?!

After what felt like HOURS of torture, Swizzle was left in a blubbering state, tears going down his eyes but with every word that came from his mouth, more torture was laid upon him.

"Why are you crying kid?!" a guard chuckled, ripping the boy from the chair "I thought you were supposed ta be the smart one! But look at ya now!"

The little boy was reduced to a sluggish state, drool coming from his mouth as he hung from the guards' hands but he was then thrown to the ground.

_"I can't….I don't…..so many questions…."_

Swizz felt his head pounding, a pain unlike anything he felt before. It was so bad that everything else inflicted upon his body seemed to fade away, at least allowing himself to raise his battered arms to rub his temples.

_"Aaah, so many questions."_ He moaned "_So many stupid FREAKIN' questions…."_

But where were the answers?

"Get up, dummy!" called another guard "We're not through with-!"

_"HELP!"_

The boy blinked, looking around for the other voice.

_"Whaaa-?"_

"You heard us! Get your sorry butt off the-!"

_"NO! STOP!"_

The little racer narrowed his eyes, the words of his tormentors fading away "Hmm, guys?"

"WE'RE SORRY!"

"STOP IT! STOP IT PLEASE!"

"NO! THIS ISN'T RIGHT!"

"WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN TO US!"

Was this just another hallucination? It had to have been with what he had gone through.

But still, the voices continued.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US, VANELLOPE?!"

_"C-C-C-Butt?"_

"WHY CAN'T I SHOW YOU I'M SORRY?!"

_"S-Snowy?"_

"WHY ARE YOU DOIN' THIS TO AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

_"MINTY?!"_

MINTY?!

Yes, Minty.

Somehow, somewhere, Swizz could HEAR the screams of his friends from within the confides of the castle. He didn't know where they were but…

But how could he hear them? How could he sense them?

***BA-BUMP!***

The boy's brain felt as if it had been struck with a hammer, his head hurting more than before. He cried out, cringing in pain from the strikes. He gritted his teeth, rocking back and forth but for some reason, he could not stop thinking of Minty, her face flashing through his mind.

_"W-Why is she-?!"_

***BA-BUMP!***

He could see halls.

***BA-BUMP!***

He could see doors

_"I-in the East wing?!"_

***BA-BUMP!***

_"H-How can I see this?! HOW CAN I-?!"_

"I said GET UP!" roared the guard, poking the racer again with his shock stick, his body twisting on the ground "Can't you obey an order?"

Another question.

So many questions.

But now…

Now he was getting answers, or better yet he was getting visions.

The boy fell silent, his entire body going numb as he felt his brain continue to pulse within him. Something had been trigged, something deep within had been called up.

All the questions, all the pain, all the screaming and the fear.

It had acted as a key.

His code started to flip, his memory started to swirl. Even as he was held several feet in the air by the bulky guards, he didn't feel it. His body began to twitch, flashing and flickering before all who could see.

"H-hey, what's goin' on he-?"

A flash.

A flicker.

A…GLITCH?

The only thing Swizz could hear were the crying of his companions. They sound hurt, they sounded scared.

"TALK, DARN YOU!"

He wanted to do something but as his body continued to glitch in and out, all he could was remain silent.

"Heh, guess the brainiac's done for now?"

A small growl rumbled in Swizz's chest, the boy starting to FORCE his neck up. The guards looked on, surprised that even with everything he had gone through, Swizz still had some strength in him to move.

"_I-I ha-have a question…_" the boy panted, the feeling of his pounding brain waving throughout his body. The guard who held the racer found itself becoming rather nervous, the glare Swizz was giving him rocking him to his crust.

"Y-Yeah? What is it?"

"_H-How fast do you have to be thrown before breakin'?_"

The guard faltered for a second….

But then it found itself being FLUNG into a wall with BLINDING force, its body SHATTERING upon impact.

The other guards looked in horror before feeling a pulsing wave touch their skin. They turned back, their faces twisting in fear.

For before them HOVERED a racer, one looking angry. One looking as if he were ready to break apart everything around him.

But not with his hands.

"Good GOBS, look at the light around his h-!"

Swizz swung an arm, everyone in the room stopping in their place as they began to levitate off the ground. His brows furrowed as he looked upon the candy people.

"We used to live with each other…" he said "But turn on a dime, you'd be HAPPY ta see us all suffer!"

The guards looked at the powerful racer with pleading eyes, the same eyes that he had once given Vanellope upon her reinstatement as ruler of the game.

But those pleas had been ignored.

And so would these.

"Ya followed your Princess ta this point…" the racer growled, his eyes glowing bright "So have a reward for DOIN' so!"

Another pulse came from within the boy's mind, BLASTING inside the remaining guards. They cried out in pain as they could feel the insides of their heads slowly being forced outwards.

"U-URGHH! PLEASE HAVE MERCY! PLEASE HAVE-!"

***BOOM!***

With a sick splat and a few loud thumps, bodies now lay on the ground, Swizz slowly floating down with them. He looked around, his heart empty for what lay before him. It was ironic that a boy such as he, one who in the past would never think of causing such harm to the candy people, would take such measures to get away.

But after hearing all the screams from his friends, he knew that things were different in Sugar Rush. On Vanellope's orders, the once bright and cheerful game was turned into a place of horrors.

She didn't care?

Well, no longer did he.

He felt the pounding in his mind subsiding but something still remained. It was that odd feeling, that odd feeling that he had more in control than he had ever had before.

All the questions it seemed had unlocked something deep within.

Something that Swizz liked.

Something that he knew he was going to use.

But first, he had a job to do.

He could still hear the sounds of his friends, his mind connected to theirs but as he concentrated, there was something about them as well.

He wasn't the only one who had changed.

And being the inquisitive boy that he was, he knew he needed to find out.

"But first…" he said, looking back down at the still bodies of the guards "I have to check up on Minty. I know SHE'S givin' her captors a hard time."

Swizz walked up the stairs, coming face-to-face with the door. It towered over him, its dark shadow cast over him.

He took one look at the door and with a scowl.

"_Move…_"

It flew off its hinges into the hall, a sparkle of light showing through the boy's eyes.

"I have so many things I want to ask Vanellope once we see her…." The boy whispered to himself "I hope for her sake, she can answer them."


	8. Minty

Torture Six – Minty

"GET THE STRAPS!"

"GET THE CHAINS!"

"Man, this one is an ANIMAL!"

Everyone in Sugar Rush knew Minty was tough. The strongest and the roughest of all the racers in the game and as she was being lead to her punishment, she was showing it off for all to see.

"Let me GO ya moldy sacks o'GARBGE!" the girl roared, brandishing a chocolate covered pretzel "Ya put ONE hand on me! JUST ONE-!"

Minty was putting up a fight for her freedom, not budging an inch as the princess carried out her orders in the middle of the night. She didn't find Vanellope's joke at the reset all too funny and she wasn't finding this ordeal any better but this time around, she wasn't going to beg and cry, not at all.

Her face was red with rage, her little fist out and ready to break some noses but there were too many guards and they easily over-powered her, jawbreakers to the left and right of her taking her arms and legs.

"Make sure she's shown the best possible treatment…" said a familiar voice over the intercom "I think a workin' girl like her will appreciate it!"

To hear Vanellope cackling over the speakers only made Minty angrier, ready to crush some cookies in her hands.

"I'm gonna warn ya guys, the moment I get out, if it's by escape or regeneratin', YOU'RE ALL DEAD!"

"Like your lil hands can even put a dent in us!" laughed the first jawbreaker "I would love ta see ya try, Junior Mint."

"It's MINTY ZAK_IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!_" the girl screamed as she was thrown into a deep well. Her body hit the sides of the cold walls a few times during her decent but finally she came to a stop. She moaned in pain as she held her aching head, the darkness only broken by the tiny sliver of light from above.

But she stayed still.

After all of the fighting she had put up, after all the yelling and the threats…

*Sniff*

A tear.

A frown.

She looked down at the ground, thanking her lucky stars that no one was around to see her cry.

Crying was something that everyone in the arcade LOVED to see the other racers do now; they LOVED to see them cry out in pain and in fear, especially over Vanellope.

If the others could see her now, she wouldn't hear the end of it.

She wouldn't be strong anymore.

Just a simpering little coward, one that couldn't even fight her way against a racer who was no different than her.

"It's no fair…" the girl sobbed to herself, her hands shaking as she placed them on the ground "It's not fair at all."

She looked up, wondering how long it would take her to climb the walls but as they were made of smooth metal, there was nothing she could do. Nothing she could climb upon nor nothing she could grab.

It was as simple as that; she was trapped and who knew for how long.

She could heard the guards whispering above her, wondering just what they were planning for her. She knew it was going to be bad, as if the screaming of the other racers hadn't told her, but she sucked back her tears and wiped her nose.

If she was going to go through some sick torture, she might as well go through it fighting. She didn't want Vanellope to have any more pleasure than she was given. She already had the highest position in the game and powers over the others.

Minty was fed up; she wasn't going to let Vanellope have any more.

"HEY!" the girl cried towards the others "What are ya rock-brains doin' up there?!"

Nothing.

She balled her fist up, kicking the side of the cell and making the sides echo a ring.

"Ya heard me! Ya can't be THAT stupid!"

Silence was all that was given to the girl but she could hear footsteps coming. A shadow loomed over her as the light blocked the face but she could make SOMEONE out.

"Yeah, knew I wasn't alone in this pit…."

"Oh, you won't be…" the other voice called out, a little too friendly for the girl's liking "In fact, have some COMPANY!"

The girl could hear the faint sounds of snarls coming from above but in the darkness she still could not see what was happening. The snarling got louder though but why?

Was it because…it was getting closer?

*Splat*

What was that?

She wiped her cheek, smelling something rather sweet.

Cream?

Minty's eyes widened as the sound got louder and louder, closer and closer.

Cream and snarling?

That could mean only ONE thing.

"DEVIL D-!"

Minty felt the weight of several of the dogs landing upon her, the girl crying out as she was pinned to the floor. Snarls filled the cell as the dogs surrounded her, each one ready to take a bite. Minty backed near the wall but in the small space it wasn't as if she could actually go anywhere. She paled, the eyes of the dogs glowing red and angry at her in the darkness.

But she scowled.

That was just what Vanellope wanted; for her to be scared. To cower back.

But as she had promised herself, she wasn't going to even allow Vanellope to enjoy the moment.

She was going to go out fighting, a smirk on her face.

"Well then…" the girl growled, cracking her knuckles "Bring it on."

The first dog leapt but Minty gave it a good uppercut, sending it back with the others. Seeing one of its own down, the other two came in, the first one PLOWING into Minty's stomach while the second made a bite for her leg. The girl shrieked in pain as she felt the fangs go deep within her flesh but she kicked back with her free leg. The dog did not let go, only biting harder and harder as it snarled and clawed.

"URGH! STUPID THING!" the fighting racer shouted "I-If Candlehead were here, you'd run cause ya KNOW she'd eat YA!"

Another snarl was heard as the alpha dog came in along with the third, the trio of snack cakes tearing away at Minty but through it all, she continued to kick and punch.

She was lucky that even with the cream that foamed from their mouths, the dogs were not sick….

JUST VICIOUS.

The fight continued on but Minty was running out of energy. She was beaten on every corner of her body, bites and cuts everywhere. She could barely keep up a good breath as she stared at the dogs but she didn't want to go down.

Not like this, not cowering, not defeated.

"C-C'mon!" she roared "I-I thought ya were tougher than this! What, ya send me PUPPIES 'stead of REAL dogs?!"

Oh, how the girl wished she had something to throw, something to swing. If she did, she would have fought back the beasts ages ago but when things came down to it, it seemed that her good ol' fist and feet were the best weapons for her. She stared the dogs down but to her surprise, they seemed to back up. Three hatches opened behind them as they quickly ran in, the doors closing after them.

Standing on shaking legs Minty stood up, wondering just what in the world had happened.

"T-tired already?" she managed to mumble before collapsing down on the ground.

It was official; Minty was out of mint. She had used up all her strength to fight off the rampaging pack of dogs but if there were something else to come her way, what could she do? She was breathing hard, her limbs so weak she could barely pick herself up.

But she knew she had to keep fighting.

No matter what, she had to keep going.

"Y-Yeah…." She groaned, pain all over her body "S'what I thought…"

***K-BOOM!***

The girl gasped, feeling the cell suddenly shift and rock. The hatch above her closed but the darkness only lasted a second. A bright glow suddenly filled the room, showing Minty just what her prison looked like. The darkness had done a good job in hiding its actually size but there was still no way out, no way in for that matter. Crawling on her knees, she made her way over to the wall. Again, she touched them but there were no shocks, no heat, no hidden surprises.

It was just a box.

A brightly lit box.

But then….

Gears.

Grinding gears.

Minty looked towards the other side of the wall.

Did it look….closer?

She looked up.

Did it look…CLOSER?

Her eyes widened, her heart raced.

"Oh, ya gotta be KIDDIN' ME!"

"Well, what have we here?" came the voice again, Minty looking everywhere for an intercom "I see you managed ta make it through those devil dogs! I was quiet impressed!"

Vanellope.

Holding her battered limbs, Minty looked around everywhere "Y-Yeah, ya should have seen 'em PRINCESS! They ran off just like YOU'RE gonna be doin' once I'm through with ya!"

"I don't know…" the voice replied "After all, don't you have OTHER things to worry about now?"

Minty hated to admit that Vanellope was right as for at that moment, the walls were getting rather close to her.

And from the looks of things, they weren't going to stop until Minty was flatter than a peppermint patty.

The girl whimpered, her fear finally breaking through as the walls continued to inch their way closer, Vanellope's haughty laugh surrounding her.

"Think you're strong enough to fight THIS off? I would love ta see ya try!"

"N-NO!" Minty finally cried out, more tears coming from her eyes "I-I can fight this off! I KNOW I CAN!"

"Face it, you're not strong! Ya only fight those ya KNOW are easy targets, don't cha?"

"NO! NO! SHUT UP YA TWO-FACED MONSTER!"

"Oh, I'm the monster now?"

"You're tha one carryin' this out! AT LEAST I KNOW WHAT DID WAS WRONG!"

"But this is SO much better than an apology!" Vanellope twittered "Ta watch ya guys suffer, ta watch ya guys SQUIRM. Hehe, that'll remind ya who's in charge of this place, who's tha leader where an' YOUR worth!"

The walls were inching closer and closer, Minty pressed tightly against the floor. Her injured arms pressed out while her legs pressed up but there was no way she could fight it off.

It was just like Vanellope had said; she was weak. She wasn't strong and she never would be.

But…

"Shut up…." The mint racer growled, her teeth clenched tight "Shut UP!"

"You guys will ALWAYS be nothing compared ta me! Nothin' but after thoughts! I'M tha only racer who matters here so take your punishment like a good girl!"

The walls were now squeezing Minty in a painful box, her voice muffled as she felt every bone and organ in her body SQUISHED. It was unbearable but she still tried to push back.

That's when she felt it.

Something hot and powerful. Something forming in her tummy and spreading through every limb of her body. The pain started to go away, strength forming in her hands and feet.

She felt the urge to hit. She felt the urge to punch and kick and jump.

So much power! So much strength!

But where was it coming from?

She didn't know but she also didn't care.

She wanted MORE of it! SO MUCH MORE!

"MMPH! I am NOT weak!"

Yes, you are!

Tears began to form in Minty's eyes again.

"I AM NOT WEAK!"

Yes, you are!

But they were not tears of sadness nor fear.

"I-!"

The girl drew in a deep breath, her hands formed into fist.

"AM-!"

Her legs sat flat on the wall, every muscle in her body suddenly tensing up.

"NOT-!"

She could hear the laughter in her head, the laughter of everyone around her.

How it angered her.

But how it also POWERED her.

**"WEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!"**

As those words blared from the girl's lungs she felt something release OUTWARD and in such a rush of power, everything was blown away!

The walls, the ceiling of the cell. UP AND OUT THEY WENT!

"Gah, what was THAT!?" cried one of the guards, looking down into the cell but as they were mere inches from it.

***WHA-POW!***

A MASSIVE force hit the guard in the face, sending them upwards and THROUGH the ceiling!

"HOLY COW TAILS!"

Two feet landed on the ground before the jawbreaker guards, feet that belonged to a rather angry looking racer.

"M-Minty?!" one of the guards gasped, surprised to find that the girl had managed to make it out alive "H-How can anyone-?!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I survived…" the girl huffed, cracking her knuckles "Stare, jaw-droppin', all that cliché stuff. Ya can do it now."

"Look, we don't know WHO helped ya outta that place…" growled the other guard "But there ain't no way we're gonna let cha walk outta here-!"

"OH, SHUT UP!" Minty bellowed, raising a fist and plowing it right through the MIDDLE of the jawbreaker guard, blasting a hole so large through it that it later split into pieces. Minty just looked down unimpressed at her work, the remains of the jawbreaker before her.

"Hmmph. An' it took Ralph HOW many hits ta break it in HALF?"

The other guard roared, charging his way towards the child "Lil BRAT! I'll show ya ta hit US like-!"

Minty moved out of the way, using her small size to an advantage as she ducked between the guard's legs. She slid on the ground, tripping him with her feet and sending him into a wall.

"GOTCHA!"

The guard crashed heavily but Minty didn't even give them a chance to breath.

"I told ya that you'd be sorry once I got out!" the girl roared, lifting the ENORMOUS candy over her head as if it weight nothing "Now I'm gonna show ya how powerful THIS mint can be!"

Minty tossed the guard into the air, its screams filling the room, and then SLUGGED it through the door, its body flying not just through the door but out several of the walls in the palace, stopping only once it was outside of the structure! Minty smirked, snapping her fingers a few times.

"Oooh, sorry. Guess I just don't know my own strength!"

Indeed.

The girl looked around, studying the area and the amount of damage she had caused and all without breaking a SINGLE bead of sweat.

"Hmm, I must be getting' RUSTY." The girl said to herself, rubbing her chin "I didn't do HALF as much damage as I wanted ta!"

The girl rushed back into the room, tossing and throwing things EVERYWHERE. If there were a torture device before her she broke it, things breaking easily in her tiny hands. She laughed powerfully as she grabbed a hold of items that weighed nearly ten times herself and bent them to her will, chucking them everywhere without care. Once her little 'clean up' was complete, she looked back.

"If there is ANY tool that's gonna inflict damage here, its gonna be THESE bad boys!" the girl smirked, kissing her flexed arms "Now, ta get tha others…."

Minty tore off down the halls, pushing over anything and anyone who got in her way. There were some yells and some screams but they didn't last long, not when Minty was bulldozing down the way. By the time she made it up the third story, there wasn't a window in her wake that was whole, the things busted out as she threw candy guards out them. She looked around but couldn't find the familiar faces of her friends anywhere.

"Dooo, where are ya guys?" she asked herself "Ya think in a place like this ya'd-!"

As the girl rounded a corner, a sight met her eyes and she screeched to a halt. She gasped, her eyes wide in surprise as a bright light shown before her. She shook her head, taking a few steps back.

"N-No way!"

A hand went to her mouth but the other reached out, shaking in fear.

"S-Swizz?!"


	9. Citrusella

Torture Seven – Citrusella

Little Citrusella kept her mouth shut as she was lead into her torture cell.

What luck; no one could remember her name, sometimes simply calling her 'Blue Jubi' but of all the times to be REMEMBERED, it had to be because of this.

She whimpered, remembering all the times she used to join in on the other as they teased and harassed Vanellope. Maybe this was just desserts. After all, it wasn't as if Cissy had backed down when the others began their torment. In fact, Citrusella had only joined in to get noticed, along with the other pallet swaps. When they joined in on the bullying, everyone remembered their names.

She could remember hearing the cries of Vanellope, the only time she heard her name said CORRECTLY.

But now, it was coming back fast and it was proving to be one of the worst mistakes the racer had made in her life.

Citrusella wasn't normally a bad girl and had it not been for the tampering of King Candy, she never would have been so desperate to pull such horrid deeds.

But like anyone was going to listen to her now. The guards said nothing, joining in on the painful silence as they marched down into the dungeon, a slew of nasty looking weapons and items lining the walls. The racer could only gulp back, her mind a flurry as to which one was waiting for her.

"Move it, slow-poke." A guard growled, shoving the racer and nearly causing her to trip.

What things awaited for Citrusella at the end of the hall? If the walk went on forever, the girl wouldn't have minded a bit.

"In here…."

Citrusella stopped, looking up at the angry guard. She was too scared to walk into the room but another nasty shove took her to the destination. She fell atop the floor, the surface cold and strangely bumpy. There was very little light in the room but what little she could see there were tiny mounds rising from the metallic surface.

"What are these things?" the girl thought to herself, feeling a strange energy coming from them.

The door slammed loudly behind the girl, startling her. She jumped to her feet and ran towards the surface, pounding it.

"W-what are ya gonna do with me?!" she cried, not an ear of sympathy around.

"Citrusella, Citrusella, Citrusella….." came a voice from above. The blueberry girl swirled around, looking for the source but she found nothing.

"Vanellope?" she asked "Where are ya? W-what is this place?"

"Ta answer your SECOND question…." The princess snickered "This here is a lil place I had whipped up REAL quick for a special racer like ya. For the first…."

There was a bit of a pause, the blueberry racer wringing her hands together as she anticipated to hear the voice of the princess once more.

"You'll find that out soon enough once you regenerate."

There was another pause, Citrusella shaking in her boots.

"IF ya regenerate that is!" cackled the voice.

The little racer huddled in her cold prison, her mind all a tizzy as to what was to come towards her. She could hear some of the screams of the others as she was led away so she could only dread what Vanellope had in store for her. She sat on the ground, her hands clutching her hat.

If only she hadn't teased Vanellope all those years ago.

If only.

But now it was too late.

No amount of forgiveness was going to heal those wounds.

_*Zzrt!*_

The girl could feel the hair raising on the back of her neck as a small spark rose from the ground. The light danced about her fingers but it wasn't enough to cause any serious shock or feelings.

***ZRRT!***

There it was again. Where was it coming from?

The crackles in the room continued but as the girl peered around, they seemed to be getting brighter.

And STRONGER.

She knew something was coming, something she wished she could escape but as she stood on her feet….

***ZRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!***

**_"AUUUUUUUUUUUURGH!"_**

The little blue racer WAILED in pain as a terrifying shock shot up her feet, lifting her off the ground. The electrical buzz was still going through her body as she flopped onto the ground but then another came, flipping her over as she twitched on her back.

It all became clear what was happening now.

"Oh, a little sour shocker." The person at the controls said, turning up the dial "I think we're all gonna enjoy this!"

Still lying on the ground and motionless, Citrusella could hear the sounds of the electricity charging around her. She tried to move but what little she could do was twitch her fingers and toes. Her body was more or less paralyzed from every other angle.

More electricity crackled as another large jolt was sent through the room, the bright light showing forth a girl frying form the inside out.

Why was this happening? Why of all tortures had this been planned for the girl and most importantly, why would the guards so gleefully carry it out? Were they all on Vanellope's side that no amount of torture seemed like too much to them?

The girl fell to the floor like a ragdoll once more, breathing hard as her body smoked and shook.

She was just a little girl. Just nine. Why did this seem fitting for a child who could not fight back?

She tried to protest but it seemed that her words were locked in her throat; either that or all muscles were stuck, unresponsive and numb.

A tear formed in her tightly shut eyes, the only thing she could do.

She wanted to go back to being forgotten again, to being just another pallet swap. Maybe then, she would have faded into the background and no one would have noticed her.

She would be free from all this torment, all this pain.

"Is that enough?" said someone from the outside of the room.

"Nope. We gotta give her enough juice till somethin' INTERESTIN' happens!"

Interesting? Wasn't it interesting enough to see the effects of so much electricity on a tiny body? To the guards, and most importantly to the princess, it WASN'T enough.

They needed more.

Again, the dials were turned up and more power flowed through, the girl's hideous wailing filling the entire room.

"Turn her THAT way!" said someone, the electricity now throwing the girl hard upon a wall.

"NOW THAT WAY!"

Citrusella was now being bounced every which way by the bolts, not sure which pain to consider worse. The thrashing or the shocks that seemed to grow as time went on.

She could smell it; not the smell of her burring skin or hair but the electricity. It had a weird scent and it lingered in the air. She somehow began to enjoy the scent, despite what was happening to her and what she was seeing before her.

Had she gone mad? Were the tortures finally getting to her?

What other reason could there be for the girl to suddenly ACCEPT what was happening to her?

"Wait, gotta let her simmer a bit…."

The power was shut off and Citrusella fell to the floor once more. Her body smoked, still and silent.

"Heh, guess she went out faster than we thought…" said the first voice.

"What do ya expect? She's only a pallet swap after all!" came the second.

There was that term; PALLET SWAP.

Glitch or Pallet Swap? Which was worse?

In either case, BOTH terms were often thrown around like insults to the other racers.

If you were a pallet swap, it meant you were not of your own, that you were just a copy. No, a copy is equal to the original, one unable to tell the other.

A pallet swap was LESS in the eyes of so many.

Less because the designers were too lazy to make an original design for them.

Less because they couldn't even have their own look.

Less, because as everyone knew, they were INFERIOR to the original.

And now, people were laughing at Citrusella not only because they thought she couldn't take the punishment, suffering so much like the other racers, but also because she was never meant to take such actions.

She was LESS than Jubileena, her 'original', which meant she was going to go down much faster.

"What the heck is CITRUSELLA supposed ta represent anyway?"

"Yeah, she's BLUEBERRIES but her name is based on CITRUS fruits? What gives?"

"Heh, maybe its because she's sour!"

"Didn't we already say somethin' like that?"

"Makes sense though. Sour lil brat, sour attitude!"

She still could not move from her place on the floor but she could hear everything. She moaned a bit, her eyes feeling heavy as she looked up at the ceiling.

Was it sleep? Was it the end?

Whatever it was, the girl could feel something wrapping over her. It felt warm and comforting, a stark contrast to the coldness that was being thrown to her from the outside.

"_Mmmmm…._" She moaned, the others ignoring her movements and sounds "_Sour?_"

Citrusella liked sour….she liked sweet.

Blueberries and lemons.

Soft and shocking?

There was that smell again. The smell of the electricity but where did it come from? The low hums of the generators were off but she could see a spark.

A spark on her fingers.

It danced gracefully, going from one tiny fingertip to the next.

The girl was a little confused but as she watched the light, something within her began to brighten. It was a welcoming sight; something so beautiful and delicate, this tiny spark of electricity.

"_I-It's so cute…._"

The spark seemed to grow, crackling between both her hands as a web of power formed between each finger. She suddenly began to feel better, all the pain slowly going away and finding some strength to sit up. The laughing outside continued but Citrusella could no longer hear it.

She was having much too much fun herself playing with the large spark that was now floating and dancing around her.

"It's so pretty…" she laughed, a soft smile on her face "I bet you taste….I bet you taste SOUR!"

Sour.

Like citrus?

Citrusella.

The girl didn't know exactly what was happening but she suddenly stood up, her back to the guards as she continued to laugh about. The more she laughed, the better she felt and the better she felt the more electricity began to spiral around her. It grew bright and brighter, strong and stronger and after a while….

Someone was bound to notice.

The cackling blue light of the sparks began to illuminate the room which finally caught the attention of the guards.

"Y-You guys seein' what I'm seein'?!"

The girl continued to laugh, her form now FLOATING above the floor as she held out her arms. Her cheerful sounds would have been enough to make anyone's day bright but with the massive influx of power she was creating…

"Guys, look!" a guard said "The power readings! They're off the scale!"

"But how?!" asked another "This thing isn't even on now. There's no way it should be-!"

"SOUR?"

The group looked up, seeing Citrusella floating near them, her hands out as balls of electricity floated above her palms.

"You said I was sour."

The guards said nothing, moving back but the girl only moved forward, the glass finally stopping her.

"Y-You think she's gonna do anythin'?"

The blue racer cocked her head to the side, an innocent look on her face.

"Or sweet?"

"S-sweet WHAT?"

"I don't know…." The girl replied "But since I have all this now…."

Citrusella's smile grew wider and wider, her eyes shutting as the power increased.

"Never mind! I like SOUR!"

A mighty crash engulfed the room, bolts of lightning and electricity going everywhere and hitting everything in its path. The guards were caught in the spray, their screams echoing as they felt their bodies being cooked from within. The electricity didn't seem to stop, pulsing and flickering in an endless stream…

And it was all coming from Citrusella, the girl still smiling brightly.

"Sour can be so sweet!" she said to herself, her hands out as she began to play around with the bolts, controlling the guards like puppets "Just smile! It won't be for long!"

Indeed it wasn't.

In a few more moments, the group was fully cooked, their ashes spread on the ground and smoking in heaps. Seeing that her work was done, the racer let her electricity die down and she rested her feet back upon the floor.

She looked around, finding that the place was quite the mess but what more could she do?

It wasn't as if she had the power to clean it up herself.

"Oh well…." She shrugged, skipping off towards the door, bolts coming from the ground as she jumped "This was so much fun but I guess it's over now."

The girl easily opened the door and continued to skip her way out, not caring that her hat fell off or that the ties that were normally on her hair simple popped off, the electricity destroying them. Her hair became sharper, sparks showing up at the tips. Her skin became white, the pink that was once there replaced with blue.

And her eyes.

A crazed look appeared in her eyes.

But she looked SO happy.

Everything was so sweet, everything was so sour!

It was wonderful to be BOTH!

Citrusella continued to skip down the halls but had anyone been there to witness it, they would have felt that there was something off about the girl. She was not the same racer she had been before. She felt more flighty, more free, able to enjoy herself as this new wave of energy coursed through her.

She knew that once things were through, EVERYONE would remember who she was.

She was no longer just a 'pallet swap'.

Citrusella was something much more.

Much more sweet and sour.


	10. Sakura

Torture Eight – Sakura

"Where in the world did THIS one come from?" asked a guard as they looked down at the shivering racer.

"Hmmm, Minty Sakura. She's been here since we were plugged in…." said the other, looking at the stat sheets "But for the life of me, I can't recall ever seeing her anywhere before…"

A nervous smile crept on the girl's face, holding out her chained hand "D-Does that mean I can get outta this? I-I mean, if ya never saw me around then-!"

"Pipe down, Sack-Ra!" another guards said, forcing Sakura back into her seat "The Princess seems to recall you very well!"

"Th-then how come you guys don't?"

"Maybe ya just didn't stand out well enough in the crowds…." Shrugged the first "Or maybe your racin' is just that bad."

Sakura's eyes widened as the insult bore into her; her racing was so poor THAT was the reason that citizens and gamers alike never noticed her?

Could it have been true? Was that really it?

The other racers could spot her, the other racers knew her name, knew her likes….

But no one else did.

Such a fate for a showy racer like herself.

"Okay, I'm getting bored just watching this kid stew around. Let's start the FUN!"

The small girl gulped back, knowing that a cornucopia of torture was headed her way though she didn't know what exactly WHAT was in store.

All she knew was it was going to be PAINFUL.

"Get the cage ready!"

The cage?

Sakura looked along the wall, seeing various face cages hanging about. King Candy must have made them; what other reason would there be for them to be there? It wasn't as if Sugar Rush was programmed with such devices originally. In all his madness and paranoia to ensure that the game stayed in his hands, Candy MUST have constructed these things behind the other's backs.

And now Vanellope was putting them to good use on her 'fellow' racers.

"This one looks good…" said the cookie guard, lifting up a rather large silver cage and putting it next to Sakura's head.

Too big.

"Nah, her entire body can fit into that one!"

"What about this one?"

A copper, RUSTY cage, spikes jutting out from all directions.

"Nope, too small. I think this is more suited for one of those fans or something."

Well, THAT was a lucky break!

"Wait, wait, wait…." Said the guard "I think I have the PERFECT one!"

Sakura shrank back into the arms of her captures as she was terrified too look at what was chosen for her.

But then she saw it.

A simple white porcelain mask?

The girl looked at it more diligently. It looked familiar, as if she had seen something similar before.

The way that the cheeks were painted, the way the eyes were molded.

It was like….a kabuki mask?

"_Oh, YEAH RIGHT._" The girl thought to herself "_Of COURSE they would pick that. Jerks._"

"Heat it up!"

The little racer felt as if something within her snapped in two.

Heat the mask?

As in the mask that they would soon place on her FACE?

It became all too clear where this was going….and Sakura didn't like it.

A pot of molten hot caramel sat in the corner of the cell, its contents smoking and bubbling over. The small bits that landed on the ground sizzled so loudly that the racer could feel her hair curling at the ends, the white-hot drops of goo burning a few holes into the ground.

And soon, that heat would be placed on her face.

"NO!" the girl cried but she was still held in the clutches of the guards "I'll do ANYTHING! Just don't put that…that THING on my face!"

"But Sakura…." Came a voice "It's so BEAUTIFUL. Just like you…."

The racer blanched as she looked about, her mind focused on both keeping her face away from the piping hot mask but also to discover where the taunting voice was coming from.

"Please, there has to be something else we can do! Something else that doesn't involve me becoming faceless!"

"Well, it's as you have often said yourself….you seem to become faceless in the crowd, Sakura."

"I NEVER SAID THAT!"

"Always disappearing and reappearing. Though I must say, your face was quite easy to pick out when you were wrecking my kart!"

The girl turned red, a bit of anger flushing through her "You're the freakin' princess here!"

"Thank you for remindin' me…."

"But you treat me no better than a pallet swap now?!" the racer continued to roar, her legs kicking as she was being held "Y-You know something PRINCESS! Even if TURBO was a monster, he at least had the MEMORY to remember us and WITHOUT some stupid memories to do so!"

Silence befell the room, the large guards looking in shock at the words that came from Sakura's mouth. She panted, hoping that the invisible princess could hear each and every word.

"Yeaaaah…." She hissed, her eyes narrowing "You heard me. You heard me REAL good didn't you?"

Again, there was no reply. Sakura knew she had hit a very sore spot with Vanellope and being in the position she was in, she no longer cared HOW the monarch felt.

If she was so big and bad to dish out punishments, then she was big and bad enough to take what Sakura had to say.

"Admit it, Vanellope. There ARE some things Turbo was BETTER at during his rule, WASN'T there? I mean, he was GOOD enough to keep YOU off the tracks for fifteen years, RIGHT? RIGHT?"

Sakura could not believe what she was saying, her mind too full of rage to be held back. In one part of her mind, she didn't want to say such things to Vanellope, especially when she remembered how terrible she had treated her before but now that the ruler had shown her true colors, all candy-coating was off. She hated Turbo with a passion but seeing that the two were near spitting images of each other now?

"Dare I even say that King Candy was a better RULER, even in his insanity?" Sakura continued "Yes, he USURPED your butt of your throne but with what you're doing? You're playing out like the spoiled little pile of rotten bean paste that you are! Admit it Vanellope! The only reason you're doing this? Because ya wanna feel as BIG and as POWERFUL as that last loser that ruled us! But guess what?"

Sakura took a finger and arrogantly wiped her nose.

"YOU'RE the poor imitation of him. YOU'RE the one who's scared of fading into the crowd! What other reason would there be for you to do all this? Because you're SCARED. You're SCARED that one of these days….it's all gonna come back an' BITE CHA and you'll be buried again."

From whatever room she was locked up in, Vanellope sat in silence, a smile on her face but an eye twitching nonetheless. She grabbed tightly onto the microphone, a growl rumbling her voice.

"Toss out the mask…."

Sakura blinked "W-What?"

"PUT IN THE FULL BODY SUIT."

"Oh….CRUMBS."

From out of the storage room came a large body cast, constructed of the same material as the mask and just like the mask before it, it too was dipped into the molten hot caramel, its white surface turning red hot.

"MAKE SURE IT'S NICE AND HOT!" Vanellope laughed "Perfect for a hot tempered young lass like her!"

Sakura began to kick and wail as she brought forth to the monstrosity, the guards carefully laying the contraption out but making sure that THEY were alright in the process. Tears were streaming down the racer's face as she was inched closer and closer to it, her arms spread out and her legs straightened.

"There has to be another way!" she wailed, her face red but starting to blister due to the heat "You can't do this to us! You can't-!"

And then….

It closed.

Sakura's words were shut tight from within as her screams were muffled, the searing pain from the hot cast burning into her skin. Her brain went into overdrive as she attempted to escape but she was locked tight within.

"OHGOBSNOPLEASEMAKEITSTOPNONONONONOPLEASEITBURNSSTOPITSTOPITPLEASE!"

The voices of laughter could still be heard from outside the cast, the crowd enjoying hearing Sakura scream as she cooked from within her cast.

"She blends into a crowd!"

"I'm sure by the time this is over, she'll blend in quite well with that thing, or what's left of her!"

Sakura was still burning in pain as her mind went into a mad frenzy. Everything that had been said seemed to be lost to her and she was now trying with all her might to think of something else to distract herself from being burned but how could she when it was just so terribly painful?

Images of everything she had seen for the fifteen years she had been alive ran through her mind, everything becoming a blur but it was starting to mix and meld with the insults that had been thrown at her.

How she blended into a crowd, how she looked like everyone else?

People, items, things, stuff.

She could be anything to them and they would never know!

"OHGOBSITBURNSBUTISHOULDNTWORRYAHAHAHAHAHAISHOULDNTWORRYNOTEVERYTHINGBURNSHAHAHAHHANOTEVERYTHINGBURNSHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH!"

The girl had gone fully into madness, her eyes wide but in the midst of the frying and smoking, she could feel it.

Something else.

**"HAHHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHA!"**

Something strange.

It felt like a tickle, it felt like a pop. Whatever it was, it was making her laugh more, her mind somehow humored by what was happening to her.

"AHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!" she laughed, her mouth wide but muffled from the mask "AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! I AM ANYTHING! I CAN BE ANYTHING!"

A great pressure began to well within Sakura's chest but she just kept laughing, even when it felt she was running out of breath to talk. The others joined in with the cackling, not even aware of what was truly going on. Sakura's laughter began to get deeper but also more desperate, her mind slowly coming to as she realized that something wasn't off, even in the midst of being burned alive.

"Ahahah..ahahaha….W-WHAT IS GOING ON?!"

Heavy twitches began at her hands and feet, the girl choking a bit. She was no longer worried about the heat because she could no longer FEEL it but whatever had befallen her now felt much more concerning. She gasped again, letting out an agonizing cry.

"AAAURGH!"

"Keep cookin' good lookin'!" someone jeered from afar, making Sakura ANGRY this time.

"UUURGH! SH-SHUT UP!" she called back "W-why do you even CARE?! Y-You never noticed me before! I-I could have been-!"

The girl bit her lip hard, her body twitching horribly as the madness continue to well within her.

"I C-C-C-COULD HAV-HAV-HAVE BEEN A GIANT **ROCK** FOR ALL YOU CA-!"

The girl stopped in her words, feeling as if something POPPED from in her chest. She felt breathless but even with the unknown happening to her, THESE were the words that somehow came out.

"PON!"

There was a large POOF and a great BOOM as suddenly and strangely, A GIANT ROCK BUSTED through the cast, breaking it into pieces as the others in the rooms ducked.

A ROCK?

Just like Sakura had said.

A few guards looked up, bewildered at what they were looking at. One approached the large piece of stone and poked it with his stick.

"Um, there was a kid here, ri-?"

*PON!*

In another puff a smoke, Sakura appeared on the ground, trembling and burnt but somehow back to her normal self. She clutched her hands to her chest, her words lost to her.

"H-how did she-?"

How did she INDEED.

It was only moment ago the girl was ROASTING inside of a cast but without any sort of warning, she had become a ROCK? The girl looked down at her hands, her palms giving off a strange light.

"W-what is this?!"

"Hey!"

The girl gasped as she looked up, noticing the angered looks the guards were giving her. One reached down and picked her up roughly.

"Just because ya pulled some trick outta your sleeve doesn't mean ya can get one over on us!"

Sakura looked in fear into the eyes of the giant cookie guard, shaking and quaking in his holds.

"But I-!"

*PON!*

More smoke!

And with that, Sakura became…a COOKIE GUARD?

"WHOA!" one cried out, standing in disbelief "H-How did she do-?!"

*PON!*

In an instant, Sakura became Princess Vanellope!

"Y-Your majesty?!"

*PON!*

A pot!

*PON!*

Her own kart!

*PON!*

*PON!*

*PON!*

Much to Sakura's own shock, it seemed that for every thought that came to her head, she suddenly BECAME it! The guards all backed away, suddenly scared as they watched the girl flash and transform before them but suddenly, she stopped.

Laying on her back, the girl looked up at the ceiling, not sure herself what to make of her sudden new ability.

"Pon?" Sakura meeped to herself.

*PON!*

Again, she became a cookie guard.

And then it all became clear.

All the jokes about how she could be ANYONE, that she could fade into a crowd.

She now possessed such great powers.

A smile formed on her face as the realization came to her.

And with that realization….

A grin.

An evil grin.

What's the BEST way to make cookie guards crumble?

By bringing in something BIG and STRONG to break them.

Sakura hopped to her feet, her arms out and her teeth flashing.

"PON!"

*PON!*

The guards cried out in shock as they all looked up, the small girl now replaced by a Sakura-themed….

ELEPHANT?

"Yeah, this is gonna hurt isn't it?"

Sakura brought a foot down, reducing a cookie guard into crumbs in an instant but she wasn't done there! She blew a loud trumpet as she then swung her trunk, obliterating another set of guards but she didn't stop!

This was all too much fun!

Outside the cell, the only thing that could be heard were screams and the loud crunching of cookies, followed by the oddly placed sounds of VARIOUS animals and objects.

Whatever Sakura was doing, she was making sure her tormentors were finished off WELL.

And then….

It stopped.

The pitter-patter of tiny footsteps approached the door but it opened on its own, the only thing within it being a key. But where was the owner of said key?

*PON!*

Pink and green smoke blasted forth but as it cleared, the key was gone.

But there was Sakura, alive and well.

Her kimono was in terrible condition and her hair was a mess but she didn't seem to care. In her hands was the mask, the mask that was used to bring forth such pain to her. She looked at the thing, a smile on her face.

"It is quite beautiful…." She said "It would be a shame if this thing were to go to waste."

Using a hanging strap from her clothing, Sakura fixed a rope around the mask and placed it upon her face.

"I'm sure Vanellope won't know who I am with this…." The girl hummed "But that's okay. I have too many faces now to remember!"


	11. Rancis

Torture Nine – Rancis

"Watch the hair, watch the hair!" Rancis grumbled as he swatted the hands of the guards away from him.

What a sticky wicket he found himself in; to be handled so roughly for the simple act of behaving like a brat. Surly, there had to be something wrong with Vanellope's brain if she thought that performing such acts were in just to what King Candy had gleefully allowed the other racers to do to her for years.

But as bad as it was, Rancis was being lead down the dark stairwell to the dungeon, the sounds of the other racers echoing against the cold stone walls. The peanut butter racer was petrified with fright on the inside but he had to keep a stiff upper lip nonetheless.

After all, what type of example would he be setting for the others if they managed to catch a glimpse of him COWERING in fear and such?

Granted, it wasn't as if he had set a good example beforehand but it was the thought that counted!

Right?

"In here, ya lil zit!" the guard growled as he yanked Rancis forward, the boy scoffing.

"I'll have you know that my face is CLEAR as crystal!" Rancis snorted, rubbing his freckled cheeks "In fact, these FRECKLES you see? They up my adorable factor a whole TWENTY PERCENT!"

"Save it for someone who cares!" the guard said as he gave the racer a swift kick in the bottom, sending him FLYING through the cell like a football.

Of all the-!

Rancis rose to his feet and rubbed his sore tush, making sure to pull down an eyelid and stick out his tongue at the guard for good measure. The behemoth of a cupcake moaned and rolled its eyes, shutting the door loudly and finally leaving Rancis alone. The boy looked about, seeing nothing and feeling nothing but the chill of the wet prison. He ran a hand through his curl, feeling a bit nervous.

He ALWAYS did that when he was nervous.

"Gosh…" he whispered "I wonder where everyone could be. Unless Vanellope was joking about the 'punishment' I don't see how-!"

A bright light EXPLODED in Rancis' face, the boy falling down once more as he tried to adjust to the spots that were forming in his eyes.

"Rise n' shine!" called a voice on the intercom.

"I-I do believe that its only EIGHT in the EVENING!" the racer replied, blinking fast.

"Mornin', night, whatever!" laughed the voice "You're wastin' precious time sittin' about!"

Rancis staggered to his feet, finally realizing that Vanellope's voice was coming from one of the many intercoms in the cell.

"Mmmn, very funny Vanellope…" the boy mumbled under his breath "You were ALWAYS on with jokes."

"But now, the jokes on YOU isn't it?" the girl retorted "But to be honest, I had a hard time coming up with the BEST 'plan' for you, Rancy-Doodle!"

"Oh?" the boy asked, crossing his arms and swaggering a bit "But I thought being as sharp as you were, you could come up with ANYTHING on the fly!"

"True, but consider it a compliment, honey! After all, you're just so COMPLICATED and UNIQUE Rancis!"

The boy knew sarcasm when he heard it, his eyes narrowing as he once again ran a finger through his curl "And you darling, I must say, you have shown your first day reinstatement as being a CARING and COMPASSIONATE ruler."

"I'm only givin' ya guys the same grade of compassion you showed me, after all!"

The boy clenched his fist, his voice lowering "_And what's protecting you once we get out, love?"_

"Such a rotten attitude for such a LOVELY boy…" the girl said, laughing once more "But it'll make sense in the end. It will….startin'…."

"Starting?" the boy said, an eyebrow raised.

"NOW!"

"Hmm?"

A rumble.

A boom.

A great crash.

Rancis jumped up and looked around. He saw nothing but he could FEEL something.

And….

"Urgh!"

Smell something.

"W-what is that AWFUL odor?!"

He couldn't describe it, he DIDN'T want to describe it but for the life of him he wanted to get AWAY from it!

He gagged, feeling sick to his stomach as the stench became stronger. It was coming towards him in ALL directions, making it impossible to escape! His eyes were watering and his nose was burning.

"W-what is-!"

And then he looked up….

"NO."

The powerful stench only got worse as Rancis found himself BURIED in a mountain of ROTTEN candy and other things used in Sugar Rush! He let out a scream but it was quickly stopped when the filth fell upon him. After a few seconds, Rancis popped his head up, gasping and choking as the rotten mush surrounded him.

"Oh gobs!" he burped, hapless to SWALLOW some of the mess "I-It's in my mouth!"

More garbage began to pour in much to Rancis' horror, the boy unable to get away as it began to surround him from all sides.

Half eaten lollipops, still wet gum, moldy pie crust and rancid chocolate.

"URRH! HELP!"

Smelly rotten banana peels, bitter and brittle caramel, stale and tasteless cookies.

"I-I can't breathe!"

Green yolks of unused eggs, spoiled milk and badly burnt sugar.

All the waste that the citizens of Sugar Rush threw out, it was in Rancis' cell, pouring on top of him, crushing him, mixing in with him. He flailed his little arms and legs but was helpless against the slurry and the more that became mixed in with him, the more he became a part of it.

Every time he attempted to take a breath, some garbage would go in, making him even more sick than he was.

So much waste, so much filth.

And he was taking it in.

He felt sick to his stomach, his insides churning and glorping as they filled with the trash of his own home.

"It so sad…." Mewed Vanellope "Such a pretty boy like yourself ending up in the GARBAGE like this!"

She laughed, enjoying the sounds of Rancis as he cried and gagged.

"But its so fittin', isn't it?"

"Murph!" Rancis managed to blurt "S-Stop! I *URP!* get it!"

"I don't think you do!" the girl cried "GUARDS! I think it's time to PUREE!"

Puree?!

Rancis gulped as he laid atop the trash heap, his usually pink cheeks turning a sick green.

"W-what's going to happen n-?!"

The cell shock as a loud roar sounded from the bottom of the room. A sinking feeling arose in Rancis' belly though he wasn't sure if it was from all the junk he was forced to consume or his fear but as the heap began to shake, he noticed that it began to sink in some places. He gasped, finding a foot hold as a great spiral formed in the midst of the garbage.

That could only mean one thing….

"A-A BLENDER?!"

At the bottom of the rubbish lay a deadly blade and that blades was cutting, snipping and BLENDING all the garbage into a great big slurry of goo.

And pretty soon, Rancis was going to be a part of that goo.

He screamed loudly, clawing his ways at the wall but there was nothing he could do. There were no holds, no bar to grab upon.

Just garbage.

Piles and piles of GARBAGE!

He looked up once more and found himself being covered with more rubbish as it filled the room. Vanellope wasn't stopping; she was going to see that Rancis was SLATHERED with filth and made a part of it. The dangerous tides of junk swept Rancis into its hold, his arms up and his eyes wide as he was pulled further and further into the spiral.

"Blurgh! Th-this isn't good for my *BWARP!* hair!" he said, finding it more important that he scream rather than be sick, despite all the junk that was now in him.

His heart was pounding as he heard the blade getting closer and closer. He wanted to run, he wanted to jump but there was nothing he could do. His stomach ache was getting worse but it was accompanied by another odd feeling.

Was it the fear that he was feeling or the combination of both horror and sickness? After all, with all the smells around him, it could be possible.

Closer, closer, closer.

Rancis could feel the mighty pull of the blade and with one finally cry.

"NOOOOOOOO-URRRMMPGH-!"

Down he went, bubbles forming at the top of the mash as Rancis was finally pulled under. The guards looked in pride at the job as the slurry continued to froth and bubble, the boy's own addition seemingly making it thicker.

"Hehe, should we allow him to regenerate?" asked one of the guards "It would be fun to keep a jar of racer!"

Much to the group's surprise, the blade churned a bit, stalling suddenly.

"Whoa, ya think it hit too many bones?"

The mess was now a complete stewing liquid but whatever had happened, the blade seemed to stop, a large CLANK sounding from the bottom of the mess.

"Well, it's not like the job was incomplete…." A guard shrugged "Now, what to do with all this mess…."

*Blorp*

One bubble.

*Blorp*

Two bubbles.

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles.

They formed on the surface but the guards didn't seem to mind, their thoughts all preoccupied on draining the room but with their backs turned they failed to notice the four-fingered hand rising from the mush…

And then another one….

And…

ANOTHER ONE!?

Finally, a FOURTH hand rose from the muck, slapping down upon the slurry. The last of the guards looked back, at first not reacting but a double-take hit his mind.

He gasped, jumping back as he hit another in the shoulder.

"GUYS!"

"What?!"

The guard was still in horror, pointing down to the mush.

The hands glowed a sickly greenish color, yellow mixed in, waving about as they looked for some sort of hold. And then….

He rose.

"UUUUUUUUUURGH!"

The guards stood in absolute SHOCK as a racer….

No, a CREATURE!

Rose from the stew of garbage.

It looked sort of like Rancis.

It had the tattered remains of his shirt on.

But the molted skin, the extra arms, the sick look and glow.

The boy fell over with a SPLAT on his face, shaking his head.

"Head….hurting…." he moaned "Stomach ache….surprisingly gone…"

"W-what are you?!"

Rancis looked forward, noticing the scared guards before him. He was still out of it to notice the two extra appendages on him, the only thing on his mind being what everyone was so scared about. He frowned, pointing towards the lot of them.

"D-Don't act like YOU'RE the ones who should be shocked!" he scolded "After all, WHOOOO was it that was subject to such-!"

The boy felt a lurch deep in his stomach.

Apparently the stomach ache wasn't gone.

"Uff!" he mumbled "I take that back! I take-! **_BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAURGH!_**"

Without warning, Rancis seemed to BURP UP a massive spray of toxic sugar waste, the guards helpless to move as they found themselves COVERED in it. They screamed in disgust but disgust was quickly replaced by horror.

"AUUUGHR! IT BURNS!"

"MY EYES, MY EYES!"

The guards began to melt into a mass, their screams coming together as they dripped and plopped on the floor.

And Rancis?

He looked about, complexly taken away by what just happened.

What HE had just done.

"Um, are you fellows alright?"

The guards were reduced to knee-high piles of bubbling goo but somehow they were still alive.

They weren't of the same minds they had been before but they were alive and that's all that mattered!

"Bluuuurgh! Raaaa-THAAAAAS!" they all called together, their soulless white eyes all going up towards the ceiling.

Rancis didn't know what to be more terrified of; the fact that the guards were now calling his name and reaching for him of the fact that he was STILL in the middle of the garbage pit.

"I-I have to get out of here!" the boy cried but as he moved forward, he fell, his extra arms pinning him back. He took one look at the rather disgusting looking things and let out a scream.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUURGH!"

He flailed and cried, his frantic actions actually helping him in making it out of the pit but as he pulled himself onto dry land.

"OH MY GOBS!"

Rancis….was no longer Rancis.

What was once a racer was now a jumbled mess of various things.

Extra arms, no legs but slimy tentacles, each one withering and moving about! His skin had taken on a slimy, sticky texture and was oozing hot and rotten sugar and sweets everywhere, gobs of it flying all around the room.

But surprisingly through it all….

His HAIR had remained in STELLAR condition.

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAURGH!" he screamed again, his hands, all of them, going to his face "WHAT HAVE I BECOME?!"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaugh…." Said the monsters. Rancis turned, seeing that they were mirroring his movements. His eyes darted about, not sure of what was going on.

"Aaaaaah."

"Aaaaaaaaaah…." Repeated the sludge.

"Aaaah-AAAAH-aaahh-OH?"

"Aaaah-AAAAAAH-aaaaaah-OOOOOOH."

"….Baby cakes?"

"Baaaaby caaaaakes….."

It was extraordinary. The creatures that Rancis had thought had been destroyed seemed to be following his very command. He slithered up to them, picking them up in his hands.

"Can you hear me?"

The combined trio groaned again, waving their mutated arms about.

A light went off in Rancis' head; this could be USEFUL.

"Um….fetch me a….fetch me a…."

He smiled, sharp jagged teeth showing through a dark, slimy mouth.

"Fetch me the keys to this awful place!"

The sludge did what it was told, rolling over to the table where the keys were kept. It swallowed them but once it returned to Rancis, it coughed it back up at his feet.

"Good, GOOD!" the boy cackled "You are such a well-behaved….whatever in the world you are!"

The boy crawled and slithered forward, leaving a trail of toxic sugar slime in his wake. He put the key and found he was able to open the door.

"FREEDOM!" he cried "SWEET SWEET FRE-!"

"Hey, stop right there!"

The boy eeked as he noticed a few guards running up to him. They didn't care at all that he looked a hot mess, their swords and weapons brandishing towards him.

"Stop right there, whatever ya are or-!"

Rancis' brows furrowed once more.

He knew what he had to do in this case.

He drew back a deep breath and after holding it for a second, he BLEW out a large spray of sick green and purple sugar slime! The guards cried out in disgust as they were blown away by the slimy mess but in their haste to rid themselves of it, Rancis was able to slip away, the mutated guard pile following him.

What a thing to happen to the boy. Even though he was still getting used to his new body, he found that for whatever reason the slime made him faster on the slick surfaces of the floor, running several feet ahead of any guard that saw him but he knew he had to hide somewhere.

He turned a corner, spying a grate in the wall.

"Well, it's not like I have any other choice…"

His hands went upon the metal frame, the sugar sludge melting it just enough for him to bend it back and with his new body, he was able to squeeze in, averting the guards just as they rounded the corner. He slid down the metal vents, stopping once he felt he was far enough from the security.

"Wow…." The boy whispered, putting a hand on his mutated 'pet' "Who would have thought that so much junk food could be HELPFUL…."


	12. Snowanna

Torture Ten – Snowanna

Snowanna tried to be the most mature of the racing bunch but even as she was lead down the halls, her hands bound and her glasses taken away from her, she was finding it to be a difficult challenge to stay on top.

It was bad enough that she was being severally punished for her past crimes but without her glasses, she couldn't even SEE what she was about to come up against. Everything was a blur; the guards, the walls, EVERYTHING.

The only thing that remained with her was her beloved guitar, the instrument strapped on her back as it was the last thing she had grabbed before she was pulled from her home.

"Not so singy now are ya?" said a guard, musing about Snowanna's usually cheerful and bright singing voice. She didn't want to talk as she walked as she had nothing TO talk about.

Gloom, despair, anger, sadness?

They were all things that the racer usually tried to avoid and as she was feeling a combination of all four….

"Speak now, or forever hold your tongue!"

Vanellope.

Snowanna knew she was lavishing in all the tortures she had arranged, the sno-cone racer dreading what was to come to her next.

She would only feel a BIT better if she could actually SEE.

The guards lead the small girl into a room, pulling the guitar off her back.

"W-wait-!"

An unfriendly SHOVE sent the girl tumbling back, the door slamming her face.

So many cells, just like the others.

Snowanna sat on the floor, her knees drawn to her face as she awaited the punishment that was to come to her. She was usually to brave in situations that the others felt weary over but this time around she knew that she didn't stand a chance.

There was just something about the atmosphere that told the girl that things were only going to go downhill and FAST.

Vanellope was determined to see that each racer SUFFER for what they had done to her and from the way the princess had laughed and cackled at the other, nothing was to be spared.

But she knew she had to remain calm.

A bad fate was to come to her but in the last few moments before it came, she had that moment of solace. That moment of peace.

And whenever things were peaceful, there was always something Snowanna loved to do.

"_La la la la le lo la….._"

She loved to sing.

"_S-U-G-A-R, jump into your racing kart. Sugar Rush. Sugar Rush…._"

There was something ironic to how Snowanna sang the song. Whenever she sang the anthem of her home, there was always so much light and love in her words, in the melody. Everyone saw it, everyone noticed and everyone loved it.

That's what Snowanna was known for.

Music.

Beautiful music.

"Mmmm, keep singing…" a voice cackled over the intercom "It sounds so sweet…but I'm sure it will be even better once all the fun begins."

Snowanna stood up on her feet, looking about. She squinted her eyes, the entire place just a blur.

"I know you're there, princess…." She said in a calm voice "But I'm surprised ya didn't come in to view this yourself."

"I have too many of your 'activities' to view!" the princess responded playfully "I'd miss out if I chose just ONE of you guys to torment."

The rainbow racer scowled "Ya know, revenge just doesn't end one way, sweet-heart."

"I keep hearin' that, but I just don't care…."

"Ever think what's gonna happen when somethin' bigger comes inta play?"

"Ever think about what happens when ya don't shut your MOUTH, Snowy?" the girl spat angrily "Don't ya dare think about lecturin' me right now! I a much too busy!"

Snowanna shut her eyes tight; Vanellope wasn't going to listen to her so why even bother?

Snowanna had always prided herself in acting as the big sister to everyone in the game but as she thought about her past actions, what type of girl had she been? To be led on by such a monster as King Candy, such a terrible move.

And now she was paying for every bit of it.

"Yeah, keeps those lips of yours shut…." Vanellope growled "Or don't. Because otherwise I wouldn't be able to hear you!"

Hear her against what?

**_"STUPID RAINBOW HAIRED BRAT!"_**

The loud screeching of an unknown figure filled the room, making Snowanna fall to the ground and duck in fear.

Who in the arcade WAS that? The voice wasn't familiar but it sure was scary, and LOUD, enough to ring in the girl's ears. She shivered but got back to her feet.

"W-what in the-?!"

"**_YA THINK YA CAN SING?! YA THINK YA CAN DANCE!?"_**

More loud insults came crashing through, the force powerful enough to blow the hapless racer into the wall. She slid down, her hearing starting to get as terrible as her vision but it was only starting. The pain had only begun.

**_"HAHAHAHHA! YOU THINK YOU CAN DRIVE?! YOUR RACIN' SUCKS!"_**

**_"LAST PLACE AS USUAL?! MAKES SENSE FOR SNOWANNA!"_**

**_"HORRIBLE VOICE! HORRIBLE DRIVER!"_**

So many insults but where were they all coming from? The girl put her hands to her ears as she tried to block out the sounds but it was no use, they were everywhere.

"GAAAAH! WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!"

The invisible choir continued to spray their hatred upon Snowanna, their voices becoming louder and louder the more she struggled to fight against it. It was if the girl was being dealt the same type of torture that had been given to Vanellope all those years before, years and years of insults being given to her in ten folds.

But it wasn't as if Snowanna herself was unfamiliar with the jeers. It wasn't as if Snowanna had never heard people talking behind her back about something she had.

Her hair.

Her glasses.

Her driving.

So many things to choose from, one could spend HOURS picking them.

There was always something but in the past, Snowanna was able to escape it. She was able to escape with her true passion, the freedom that music gave her.

But this time around, there was no music. Just hate; raw, unfiltered HATE.

She fell to her knees as the screaming continued, the chanting making her body feel numb and sore.

"S-STOP!" she bellowed, her mind making it seem as if the people were all around her "I'M-I'M NOT LIKE THAT!"

**_LIAR!_**

**_STUPID RAINBOW HAIRED BULLY_**

**_"SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP!"_**

**_AW, DOES THE BABY WANT US TO STOP?_**

**_DOES THE BABY WANNA CRY?_**

**_LOOK AT HER HAIR! IT'S SO WEIRD!_**

**_IT'S SO STUPID!_**

**_AND THOSE GLASSES!_**

**_FOUR EYES!_**

**_NO WONDER SHE CAN'T DRIVE!_**

**_HAHAHAHAHAH!_**

Snowanna felt the ringing in her ears grow worse, feeling as if her ear-drums would BURST at any moment but maybe that was it. Maybe that was the point. If Vanellope surrounded the girl with enough insults, enough hate, she would be too numb to hear anything.

Her favorite music included.

The poor girl tried to fight on but it was a losing battle. The sound in the room had been pumped up to a level where no human body should have been able to stand the force. The area was quaking worse than a shaken bowl of Jell-O and inside, Snowanna felt as if she were being torn apart! Her screams were all but silenced in the room as it boomed and blasted sound after sound after sound into her.

But Snowanna knew she was stronger than this.

She knew she was better than this.

She was facing against a monster of a ruler and even with the punishment before her, who said she had to succumb to it? Who said she couldn't fight back?

Fight back? Snowanna was helpless in the room, her ears in horrific pain and her body feeling as if it were been torn apart from the loud vibrations of the sound waves.

What was her body going through? This couldn't result in anything good.

She sobbed as she floated above the floor, the blasting screams keeping her afloat. She looked out towards the corner of her eyes, seeing several guards outside the cell messing with something. She couldn't make it out but she soon say the familiar rainbow colors.

Her guitar.

Her prized guitar.

The guards were now handling it roughly, tossing it about as if it were some mere toy.

"N-N-N-N-N-NO!" Snowanna wailed, her tiny voice blended in with the sonic booms of the room, her hands stretched out towards the window. The guards continued to mess with the guitar, laughing and carrying on with it right outside the window.

They were taunting her. They were taunting her and they enjoyed it.

They knew she couldn't escape, they knew she couldn't reach out.

They wanted to see her suffer as much as she could.

But this was the final straw.

She had been nearly blinded without her glasses, had old wounds reopened by insults, her body battered and bruised by pulsing sound waves….

And NOW they were messing with her guitar.

Her face twisted in anger, her throat tightening as she could feel the rage building up from within. She could feel herself getting hotter and hotter, parts of her hair starting to glow.

"Put down that guitar! NOW!" she bellowed, parts of her voice starting to break through. Still, she was not heard by the others.

A guard picked the item off the ground and pretended to play it, a goofy look on his face in an attempt to impersonate the trapped racer.

Rage.

Nothing but RAGE.

The racer clenched her fist, not noticing the strange burst of light that were starting to form around her hands. Purple lights, pink lights, all sorts of lights. They seemed to resemble the waves that were being blasted towards her but the waves she started to produce seemed brighter, they seemed more energetic.

And they were all powered by HER.

"PUT IT DOWN!" Snowanna roared, her voice deeper this time "PUT THE GUITAR DOWN!"

The guards ignored her and then….

*Slip*

Out of the hands the stringed instrument fell….

And with a small crash.

"Whoops!"

It was now lying in a heap on the floor.

Everything came to a halt in Snowanna's mind. Her vision was still horribly blurry and her ears were still ringing but she could see it all.

And she was seeing RED.

A growl formed, soft at first but it started to grow.

It grew louder.

And louder.

AND LOUDER.

"Stupid…." The girl rumbled "**_MOTHER FLUBBIN' BUTT-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLES!_**"

Such power from such a tiny person!

A massive blast of sound BROKE from the room, Snowanna's scream CRASHING into the cell and breaking it apart. Her shout was so powerful that it even disrupted the sound system that had been used against her, her notes causing everything inside of it to shatter and break.

Now the only sounds that could be heard were that of Snowanna's angered roar but after a moment or two.

She stopped.

She stood on the ground, glaring daggers at her captors as she stomped towards them. They were in pain, the massive sound wave catching them off guard as their bodies stung and their ears rang but as Snowanna marched her way out of the cell she passed them by, ignoring them.

She couldn't see but she could make out the remains of her guitar on the floor.

She reached down and picked it up, inspecting the tangled mass of strings and the broken body.

She.

Was.

FURIOUS!

The first guard manage to crawl over to the girl and took a hold of her ankle "H-Hey! What do you think-?!"

Snowanna spun around, a horrid look of hate on her face as she glared at the guard. He gasped, seeing just how upset the racer was but before he could move she opened her mouth….

"Hands **_OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOFF!_**"

With TWO words the guard was THROWN out of the cell through the brick walls, his screams fading the further he got.

Such power.

Such LOUD power.

Snowanna looked down at her guitar, the bits still hanging in her hands. She held onto it as if it were a person she loved, its managed pieces clutched tight. She felt her ears twitching as she looked to the side, seeing the other guards trying to escape.

"Oh…" she said, a sinister smile on her face and her voice surprisingly hushed this time "Ya guys goin' so soon? I thought ya enjoyed my music!"

The guards froze, cowering in terror at the girl before them. Darkness was in her eyes as she gazed down upon them, her smile spreading.

"Hold on, I think I have the perfect song for you."

She pointed a finger, her lips curled cutely.

_"Boys! I have some real good things planned for you!"_

The guards were met with bright waves of color that came from Snowanna's mouth, the waves hitting their bodies hard and lifting them up without control. Snowanna opened her eyes again, such playfulness showing through.

_"You're gonna lead me to the princess an' soon!"_

The guards began to dance uncontrollably, their limbs being twisted and turned painfully the more Snowanna sang and danced with them.

_"She thought she could get me with my own game?"_

The forced dancing continued, Snowanna only adding her own moves to strike more fear into those under her control. She waved her arms in the air, rainbow sound-waves floating at her fingertips.

_"MMMM! She thought wrong, such a shame!"_

Snowanna continued to move, her dancing graceful and sweet, only accented by the sound waves that followed her. Behind her, the guards were crying out in pain, unable to stop themselves but also the great damage that was being inflicted upon them.

But why should Snowanna care?

They had tried to break her spirit and they had broken her guitar.

What was a little DANCING going to do?

"C'mon BOYS! I know ya can do better than that!"

The guards sobbed, their limbs flopping about as Snowanna moved them like puppets to her will.

"NO?" the racer said, her brows raised. Her eyes once again darkened, her frown cutting deep "Then**_ SIT YO BUTTS DOWN!_**"

Those last words BOOMED throughout the room, shooting at the guards with such force that they EXPLODED from the waves, cookie mush and crumbs going everywhere.

And in the midst of it stood a small racer.

She looked down at her guitar once more, frowning at the sight but as she gazed upon it, she knew what to do. She raised her hand into the air, closing her eyes.

"_Snap, snap, snap….._"

Waves of sound came forth, their color enveloping her guitar. Their swirled, their twirled and finally….

*FWIIISH!*

The guitar was fixed and better than ever. It rested in Snowanna's hands but another *SNAP* came from her hands.

The waves of sound began to twist and form, warping into yet another shape.

Her much beloved designer glasses.

And finally she could see.

"Ah, perfection…." The girl sang, the sound waves coming out as pink hearts "I wonder how many people I will see on my way to the princeeeeeess…."

A few notes were plucked on the strings of the guitar, their sounds so soft and graceful.

But the evil smile returned, the racer gripping the neck harder.

She hit the strings with more force, the sounds BLASTING from the instrument and in that BLAST the wall came tumbling down.

And like so many before her, the small racer began her trek to find the princess.


	13. Sticky

Torture Twelve– Sticky

"LEMME GO!" shouted the little racer as she felt herself being lifted and dragged away from the other guards "What makes you think that you can go through with this, HUH?!"

"Keep your mouth shut, pallet-swap!" growled a guard, making his grip on the girl even worse "Rather than bust our eardrums with your inane bawling, it might be best to prepare yourself for what's in store for you!"

"Urgh! All I know is that once I get my hands free, you're ALL in store for a butt kic- AUUUGH!"

Sticky was then tossed into a great room, her body sliding on the floor. Coming to a stop, she quickly bounded on her feet and made a dash to the door but it slammed in her face, leaving her alone just like the others.

"Hey. HEY!" she called out, hitting the sides of the door as hard as she could "I know you hear me out there! Let me out or I'll tell someone! ANYONE!"

"And who do you think would come to your rescue?"

The girl gasped as she backed away from the door.

"V-Vanellope?" Sticky whimpered "W-Where are you? What is this place?"

"You'll find out in due time, Minty…."

"Urgh! Its STICKY!" the girl growled "You know that good an' plenty, Vanellope! My sisters and I all have different names!"

"Different names, same jerk…" the girl tittered "I could never tell any of you boogers apart anyway, even Big Mintz herself."

"An' you consider yourself so great…" Sticky hissed, finally seeing the source of the sound, pointing up to the speaker "I guess all monarchs come in one flavor in this game; CRAZY."

"Oh, I guess we do!" the princess replied, her humor tickled "But trust me Wicky!"

"It's STICKY."

"You'll get a better understanding of what CRAZY is once I'm done with you!"

"Done?" the girl said, trying to be as calm as possible "Done with WHAT exactly?"

"An' spoil the surprise? I don't think so Whippy."

"Rrrrgh, Sticky. STICK-EY. Two syllables, it goes with the game, how hard is that to remember?"

"Whatever." Vanellope huffed, her voice trailing off a bit "By the time this is all over, the only thing that will be sticky is the floor due to your remains."

There was a sharp screech as the intercom shut off, leaving Sticky once again alone in her cell. She looked up, her heart pounding to where her sisters were at the moment.

"Aw man, Mintz. Tori…..I wish I knew where you guys were."

Of all three of the mint sisters, Sticky probably suffered the most as she was pulled away from her siblings. Watching the other two being pulled away from her was a feeling much worse than thinking about what torture Vanellope had in store for her since from the beginning, she had always promised her sisters she would be there for them.

But now that promise was broken.

"I always said we'd stick together…." The girl whimpered, nervously mussing with her bow "But I guess I couldn't even keep that up for you."

In the midst of her sadness, the girl felt and heard a large clank below her. She gasped, jumping up to her feet as she looked down.

"What is going on here?!"

It finally came to her attention that the floor she stood upon was actually drilled with several holes, all of them of the same size but they covered the entire place. She kneeled down, putting her finger into one of them.

"Hmmm, of course it would be too small for me to fit…."

She knocked on the surface; some sort of metal. Iron perhaps. Bending down further, she could make out something far below.

"It looks like…."

What little light there was in the room was enough to illuminate the space, the girl seeing various pastel colors below her.

"Wait…."

A sniff; sweet floral smells. Some fruitiness, some spicy mints.

Sticky stood back on her feet, her head ticking away "Of course it would be candy….but what's it doing he-?"

Another large clank shook the room but Sticky was able to stay on her feet. She could hear a great gurgle from below her feet and as she looked down, she could see that the great puddle of fluff was rising. She blinked, taking a few steps back.

"Wha-oh….this place MIGHT get a little cramped soon!"

Indeed, the fluff rose higher and higher, finally seeping out of the holes from below. Sticky made a disgusting moan as she lifted her foot.

"Really? Wasting ALL THIS GOOD FOOD?"

Marshmallows.

Pure, liquefied marshmallows.

And they were filling the room FAST.

The girl looked around once more; there were no doors to bust out of the and the only window was too far up for her to reach.

"Or is it?"

Her eyes narrowed, taking a notice at how the room was constructed. There were ridges in the wall, very narrow but wide enough for fingers of her size to grab onto. She dashed towards the wall and removed her shoes, climbing and crawling her way up to the window. It was struggled but as the marshmallow whip bubbled and frothed below her, she made the dangerous climb up to the window, grabbing onto the bars for dear life.

"H-ho-kay!" she panted, looking out towards the moonlit sky "I have only ONE chance of getting this right!"

Sticky reached for her bow, unclipping it and breaking apart the alligator clamp that held it together. The result was a rather sharp instrument, just perfect for chipping away the bottom edgings of the bars.

"Pocky bars…." Sticky said to herself, making way through her work "Always go for the ends, never the middle!"

The marshmallow froth continued to bubble and rise below the girl, the depths rising to more than five feet as she continued to work her way to freedom. There was a great *SNAP* as the first bar broke but there were three more to go.

"YES!"

The racer looked down, realizing that if she wanted to make it out alive and reach her sisters, she had to work FASTER.

"Hang on Minty, Torvald! I'm-!"

As she made her way through the second bar, Sticky JABBED the clip into the surface of the Pocky but rather than breaking through it, a powerful jolt of electricity hit her!

**_"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARUGH!"_**

The girl was blown back with great force, her body smoking as she landed into the soft froth of the marshmallow whip. There were a few seconds of silence in the cell but moments later out came Sticky, gasping and coughing as she found herself lucky that the cloud-like texture of the candy enabled her to float upon its surface.

"A-An' this is why I am thankful to be STICKY!"

The bars of the cell sparked and shorted, the girl looking up at the view.

"I should have known somethin' was up…" she growled, kicking herself inside for thinking that escape was going to be so easy. She swam around the cell, trying to find if there were any other means of escape from once more she was met with nothing.

The doors were sealed and the window was booby-trapped so until she figured out what was really going on, the only thing she could do was sit.

And wait….

And float….

She allowed her body to be lifted by the marshmallows, the cloud-like fluff actually making her feel comfortable despite the situation that had come before her.

"Mintz….Tori…." she sighed, turning on her side and thinking of her sisters yet again.

They would love something like this. Well, Torvald MIGHT. Knowing Minty, she would fight every marshmallow creature she came upon, just for FUN.

But it was something that the girl would rather be doing than suffering at the hands of a twisted princess.

"Maybe it will all be fine once the regeneration is over…." The girl sighed gloomily, putting a few piece of fluff in her mouth "And then we can get pass all of this-!"

There was a bright light, one red and sickly. Sticky cried out as she ducked onto the fluffy and covered her head but seconds later, nothing came.

"Wh-what was that?"

The light gave off an eerie glow as well as a soft buzz. It was like some sort of eye, an eye that stared down upon the tiny racer in her valley of fluff. The girl found herself mesmerized by it, moving closer and closer….

And closer.

*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!*

"GAH!"

She fell back once more but recovery was short, as a strange heat began to fill the room. Sticky shook her head, pulling at her collar as she could feel the temperate rise around her.

"W-what is this?"

She could smell the scent of the marshmallows getting stronger, the surface of them starting to get a little crispy.

What was happening? What was all this bubbling and frying?

And then it hit her.

Her cell…it wasn't just ANY cell.

It was a MICROWAVE!

"No…WAY!"

The girl looked frantically around, realizing that there was something rather UNIQUE about marshmallows and how they reacted in microwaves versus their normal reaction to plain heat and fire.

In fire, marshmallows toasted and melted into a goo.

But in microwaves, the puffed.

And puffed.

AND PUFFED!

And if she didn't get out soon, she would PUFF up with them and becomes CRUSHED by the pressure.

If they didn't EXPLODE first of course.

"Havin' fun?" rang a voice on the intercom, the small racer DIGGING her way through the huge mountain of candy "I would have thought that being the whipple master, you'd know just how wonder a mess your favorite candy, as well as yourself, would make in this oven I built just for you!"

"Can it, PRINCESS!" Sticky cursed, shaking her fist towards the intercom but she could already feel the effects of the microwaves effecting her body. Not only did she feel HOTTER than normal, but her entire body tingled and felt odd, as if the waves were going directly into her.

Her candy wasn't fairing much better, the pastel mush of fluff puffing and puffing bigger and bigger, tighter and tighter, hotter and hotter! Sticky found herself getting pressed tightly against the bulging bubbles but she fought back. Even if she knew this was torture, something deep within her brain forced the girl to fight on. She just couldn't give up! She didn't want to give up!

But as the waves spread, she felt sicker and sicker.

"Urrrgh, gotta keep moving!"

"Hey Sticky…."

The girl growled.

"How many marshmallows did you eat before being thrown in here?"

The trapped racer fell silent, her eyes widening.

No wonder she was feeling sick.

"Hehe, that's what I thought….."

A great lurch formed in Sticky's stomach, her belly aching horribly.

"Ooopfh! Eating this stuff was a big mistake!"

It was going to prove to be a bigger mistake than Sticky would even fear.

*PUFF!*

The girl felt sicker, putting her hands to her mouth as she felt is if she had suddenly taken in her WEIGHT in marshmallows but her brain knew what was going on. The waves weren't just affecting the candy she was surrounded by, but the ones that were in her stomach as well. It swelled outwards, the candy filling bulging despite all her efforts to get it to stop.

"N-NOOO!" she wailed, feeling sicker by the second "I-I give! I GIVE! PLEASE JUST STOP!"

The laughing of the guards could be heard by the girl from the outside of the cell but she was much too focused on trying to survive the sticky gobs of marshmallow in and around her to try to block them out.

Still, their jeers only made her feel worse, tears going down her eyes and puffy cheeks.

"I-I have to make it out!" she panted, finding it difficult to move with her changing shape "M-Minty! TORVALD! ANYONE!"

*PUFF PUFF PUFF!*

Sticky was quickly becoming just as puffy and as round as the marshmallows that were her staple and the puffier she became, the harder it was for her to fight back. The marshmallows around her began to press her from all corners, the squeezing unbearable. She whimpered and flailed, though her stubby arms and legs weren't all that good for fighting against the marshmallow tides.

"Add more marshmallows! ADD MORE WAVES!" a guard cried, a slew of candy guards pouring in more marshmallows, turning the dial up even higher!

By now, Sticky was completely helpless to the cell. She couldn't move, she couldn't scream. All she could do was float. Float and think when the end was going to come.

Puffed hands reached out and grasped for the air but there was nothing to hold onto. Stubby legs kicked but there was nothing to push against.

She was helpless.

Helpless to fight, helpless to save her sisters.

Was this where it was going to end? Had Vanellope really won?

"M-Minty. To-Torvald!"

The pain was unbearable, the combination of being SQUISHED and PULLED OUT indescribable. All Sticky knew was that it was only a matter of time before the end came.

Before…..POP.

*PUFF!*

"C-Can't take it!"

*PUFF!*

"G-Going to burst!"

*PUFF!*

"No…."

*PUFF!*

"NO! MINTY! TOR-!"

After so much pressure, after so much heat.

A massive BOOM.

Gobs and geysers of marshmallows went EVERYWHERE in the room and as far as the guards could tell, so did a little racer along with it.

"Heh, ya think that's it?" laughed one.

"With the way she went? Definitely!"

The group opened the door, some sticky marshmallow mash spilling out as they raked the remains with their staffs and swords.

"Anythin' left?"

"I see some scraps o'clothes an' a bow…." Said the leader "But other than that…."

*BLORP!*

"Hold it…" the leader said, pushing back his troops "Ya hear that?"

A mass quivered in the middle of the flood, the pastel froth stirring about.

"What?!"

How could anything survive such a blast? How could anything survive such heat?

_"Uurff…."_

The guards stood back in horror, a human-like form standing before them.

_"I-Impossible!"_

Two small arms stretched into the air, the color minty blue. Tiny fingers trilled the air, droplets of marshmallows beading off.

"W-what a blast…." The figure said, shaking her head "I-I haven't gone through anything like that since that race in-!"

"Ya lil brat!"

The figure looked up, noticing the guards charging for her, their blades pointed right for her.

"HOW COULD YOU SURVIVE THAT! NO ONE COULD-!"

Sticky was petrified in fear as she gasped, too scared to move as the large guards looked as if they were about to smash her into the wall. She ducked, covering herself with an arm but holding the other out before her.

"No! Haven't I had enough?!"

"We'll stop when we FE-!"

Without warning, a large blast of hot marshmallow whip SHOT from Sticky's hands, the huge blast blowing back the lead guard and leaving him STUCK on a faraway wall. His muffled cries were the only thing heard as the mixture held him fast to the wall.

Had Sticky done that? And if so, HOW?!

The girl lowered her arms, looking forth at the flailing guard.

"W-whoa….pardon the pun, but THAT'S a sticky situation!"

"Hey, a monster!" cried out another guard, not at all happy to what the girl had done "Maybe you need a bit more FORCE to bring you down!"

Sticky could see the thirst for blood in the guard's eyes as they brought their sword forward, driving it right into Sticky's middle! The girl screamed, expecting pain but after a few seconds…

Nothing.

She opened her eyes, seeing that the sword's blade had gone through her but rather than cutting through flesh and bone, it went harmlessly into nothing but marshmallow.

"H-Hey!" the guard struggled, finding it impossible to pull their weapon out "G-Give this back!"

Sticky was only moved a few inches despite all the struggling the guard was pulling against to retrieve their weapon, her little body proving to be much a challenge to get through.

"Yo!" the girl cried in anger, taking a hold of the sword and finding that even though she touched the blade, she didn't feel pain from the sharp edge "I think you've done enough damage, SIR!"

Another blast of marshmallow ERUPTED from Sticky's chest, blowing the remaining guards out of the cell and pasting them onto the wall next to their captain. The lot were trapped, unable to move or even chew their way out through the candy. Sticky oozed her way out of the room, looking miffed as she crossed her arms together.

"Now…" she glared, tapping a sticky finger on her arm "One of you took my coat and bow. May I have it back?"

The guards looked at their captain, the once tough cookie turning blue in the face from fear. He cocked his head to the left, his hand still gripping the items. The racer smiled, approaching the man and retrieving her clothing.

"Thank you my good man!" she smiled daintily "Now, if you don't mind me asking. I have two sisters I am looking for. Do you know the whereabouts of one Minty Zaki and Torvald Batterbutter?"

The guards shook their heads no frantically, Sticky only sighing in annoyance afterwards.

"What's it take to find good help around this game, huh?"

She smiled oce more, shrugging her shoulders "Ah well, I can't hate a girl for trying…."

A hand went up….

And….

e*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

Another blast of marshmallows swamped the room, burying the guard in the sticky mess. A few seconds later, Sticky exited the room, trails of marshmallows following her every step.

It was funny; she really didn't know WHAT to make of her new form and powers but there was just something about it that she liked, something about it that she enjoyed.

"Heh, I guess something GOOD can come from that old saying; you are what you eat!"


	14. Nougetsia

Torture Thirteen – Nougetsia

"Here's one more for the list…." Called the guard, shoving the chilly racer into her prison cell, the heavy door clanking shut behind her. Nougetsia was NOT in a good mood and once one was to see why, they wouldn't have been surprised.

She and Adorabeezle had been pulled out her home, gagged and bound and taken to the candy castle, only to find out the promise that Vanellope had made to them about her 'execution joke' was a joke itself. The racer knew what she had done to the princess was terrible but this was going beyond any just punishment.

To be tortured and killed

What a way to go.

What a way to regenerate.

Nougetsia was worried for her sister though, the younger of the two carted away from her view with tears streaming down her eyes. She knew that Adorabeezle didn't stand a chance against the large guards that took them away to their respective cells but she had to find a way, ANY WAY, to get free!

But the further she got from the others she was quickly feeling that sense of hope dim.

"Where are you taking me?" the girl asked her captor, some anger in her voice.

"There's no need to ask that question…." The brownie guard said, shoving her a bit "All things will come into the light soon enough."

The group took Nougetsia further and further down the dungeon, the screams and wails of her fellow racers growing silent the further they got. She gulped, wondering just what was in store for her, signs of all sorts of weapons and arsenal around her.

_"Eep, hope my insurance coves THIS mess…."_

"IN HERE!"

The girl yelped as she was poked in the back with a spear, scattering into a large room. As the door was slammed behind her, she took a look at the space.

It was rather large, almost twice the size of her bedroom but there were no windows and of course, the only door would be heavily guarded. She looked at the brownie guards, but held out her hands, nodding to them.

What was next? What were they going to do?

The main guard nodded back, pointing a finger to the wall. The girl looked over to notice a round of nozzles moving from their cover in the walls, each one out and pointed towards the racer. She shuffled back but it wasn't as if she could escape. Every inch of the cell was covered and there were no means of escape.

"So, how do you like your lodgings?"

It was Vanellope again, going down the list of racers to check up upon. Nougetsia said nothing, refusing to converse with a princess who found the torturing of her subjects a mere joke.

"Aw, don't be like that, Nougie! This is all just in fun!"

Again, the racer shut her mouth. She didn't know if Vanellope could see her so she instead glared at the guard, raising her fingers to her lips and making a zipping motion towards them.

If Vanellope was going to act in such a manner, it wasn't worth the air wasted to talk to her.

"Okay. I get it…." The princess said, annoyance in her voice "Give me the cold shoulder, why don't ya. Figures coming from all you cold racers, anyway."

A bit of a smile formed on Nougetsia's face; cold shoulder. Heh.

"But really, you're just making things worse for you!" the princess chortled "Say, how about this! We make a deal. You surrender right now, tell me how low you are compared to me and I'll let ya go!"

Nougetsia raised her nose in the air, clicking her heels together and turning away from the guards. Hopefully they could translate THAT to Vanellope.

"I don't hear any begging so I take that as a NO."

The other racer nodded in response; it was clear what road she was taking.

"Fiiiiine, I can see we're playin' hard ball with ya but I'd figure this come from the big sister of the greatest LOSER in all of Sugar Rush!"

The cold racer felt a flare of hot rage forming in her cheeks.

Had Vanellope just insulted Adorabeezle?

She spun around, her eyes going right for the source of the sound, the anger in them looking not unlike the anger one sees in the eyes of a polar bear RIGHT before it bites the head off something.

"Oh, I bet that stung DIDN'T IT, Nougie!"

Nougetsia remained silent; she had to if she wanted to fight off against this heartless dictator.

"Oooh, YEAAAAH! Beezie was SUCH a cry baby when I sent her away!" Vanellope sang "All tears and sniffles, cryin' out for her big sister!"

The frozen racer gritted her teeth, wanting to march right up to Vanellope and SNAP her in half like an icicle.

"WAAAH! WAAAH! I'm so pathetic and helpless!" Vanellope cooed, doing her best Adorabeezle impersonation "Help me, Nougi! Help me because I'm too WEAK to do so myself!"

"UUURGH, SHUT UP!" the racer finally snapped, pointing towards the loudspeaker "YOU MONSTER! WAIT TILL I-! WAIT TILL WE ALL GET OUT! THEN YOU WON'T BE SO SNARKY!"

"I would just LOVE to see what you guys have in store for me…." Vanellope beamed "I mean, once all of this is over of course. By that time though, I wonder if you'll have any brains left ta know if you're comin' or goin'! Ah well, more first place cups for me in tha long run!"

"VANELLOPE!" Nougetsia roared "VANELLOPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

The loudspeaker shut off with a clank just as the frozen girl ripped off her hat and tossed it at the speaker, panting in anger as she collapsed to the ground.

The beast, the brat, the nerve! Vanellope was aware of how close the two sisters were so she knew that making fun of Adorabeezle would be the PERFECT trigger to set Nougetsia off.

And it had worked wonders.

Nougetsia did indeed feel like an animal in a cage; an ANGRY one. She wanted to bust through the walls and doors, looking everywhere until she was reunited with her little sister.

But until then…she just had to wait.

To wait and see what punishment was on her way.

The nozzle hummed as they surrounded her, the girl waiting for them to make the first move but after a few moments, nothing happened. She got to her knees and crawled over to the wall, looking at one curiously.

She tapped it.

Nothing.

She tapped it again.

Nothing.

"I-Is anything going to-?"

_*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*_

The girl screamed as she fell on her back, the nozzles spraying out a white mist into the room. She coughed, the mist taking on a choking, sweet smell as it filled her lungs but after a few moments, her body seemed to adjust to the new atmosphere. It made her nervous still because who knew what this stuff was and what it would do to her.

All she knew was that it was cold.

So cold.

So very, VERY cold!

The temperature began to drop, going lower and lower by the second as Nougetsia huddled her arms together. She was used to the cold but what was happening now was beyond that. The chill in the air was sharp and harsh, cutting into her skin and forming crystals everywhere. She looked down, a rather lovely sheet of ice spreading across the floor but she quickly went to her knees, as not to become disoriented on the slippery surface.

"G-G-G-Gee!" she chattered, sniffing her nose "H-How much colder could it GET in here?!"

A question such as that was going to be answered soon.

The mist continued to be pumped into the room, the chill going beyond anything a normal person, let alone a child, could handle. Nougetsia was beginning to wonder just how long her body could take the cold as it surrounded her, cut into her, bore into her skin and inner core.

It was painful, every angel and pixel of her body screaming in pain as the frost leeched into her.

Her lungs hurt to breathe in and her hair became a solid mass.

This was a punishment all right but there was something else that disturbed Nougetsia. It was just HOW it was being done.

It was too simple, too quick.

A simple freeze and that was it?

No, no this couldn't have been it. Vanellope was a deranged lunatic now…surly she had other things planned for the girl.

But either way, Nougetsia found herself unable to move, her body slowly freezing into a solid block of ice where she stood.

Was she to be frozen to death and then shattered?

Her teeth clanked as her skin turned blue.

That's what it looked like….that's what it looked like.

"B-B-B-B-BEEZIE!" she shouted, though thanks to her mouth being partial frozen OPEN, the name came out more as a strangled grunt, the racer unable to move or say anything.

And then….

It stopped.

The mist slowly began to fade before coming to a stop all together. The room was still covered in ice crystals and there in the middle of it knelt a little body, her form as still as a statue.

But somehow….she was still alive.

Frozen, but still living.

Her heart beat steadily though Nougetsia could only wonder what it looked like from the inside with all the temperatures she had to endure.

Had her heart turned as blue as her skin?

The nozzles suddenly pulled back into the walls, the holes shutting loudly.

And there she stood.

Silent.

Motionless.

Frozen.

*BREEEEEEEEEEP!*

The girl would have jumped had she the ability to do so but all she could was look ahead, her mouth still frozen open and slacked.

What was the next phase of this frozen torture?

The room gave off a low hum, the sound growing louder as the racer felt a bit of a tingle forming at her feet.

Was it…WARMTH?

Yes, yes it was!

Slowly but surly, the girl began to feel warmer, the heat rising from the outside and slowly making its way INSIDE.

She stopped chattering, she stopped shivering, her fingers and toes regained their feeling and to her delight, she found she could stand up once more. She rose on weak legs but shook vigorously, water going EVERYWHERE.

"Boy!" she coughed "Th-that was awfully…."

The hissing of steam stopped the girl in her words, great big clouds of billowing heat entering the room.

"Whoa, what the-?!"

The clouds grew thicker and thicker as they flowed in, the girl coughing again as she became choked.

"First freezing temperatures, now THIS?!"

Indeed, it seemed like a mystery to the girl. Why in the arcade would Vanellope try to FREEZE Nougetsia FIRST but then subject her to great temperatures that only served to THAW her.

The heat rose and rose, the room becoming DRIER as the seconds moved on but as the racer was quick to find, the room wasn't the only place becoming drier.

SHE WAS.

Nougetsia looked down at her hands, nasty wrinkles forming on the surface as it seemed that every drop of water within her was being pulled out from the heat. Her throat became to feel dry and her mind swirled with the heat. She couldn't sweat despite that at her temperature, she should have.

Then it became clear.

Frist the cold.

Then the heat.

Vanellope hadn't done this for just any reason.

She was FREEZE DRYING Nougetsia.

"N-NO!" the girl gasped, clutching her throat as every word and breath that came out was painful, the hot dry air making her lungs feel as if they were going to turn to dust from within. She fell to the ground, crawling and gasping as she tried to make it to the door.

She needed water, she need it desperately but the guards only glared at her, looks of hate in their eyes as they watched the girl suffer.

Nougetsia felt as if she were on FIRE inside, her organs drying and going into critical as the process continued on. She was surprised that by this point she just hadn't fallen apart in the heated cell, every inch of her brittle and flaking. She gasped for air but no matter how hard she did it, no oxygen was going into her lungs.

Water.

Air.

She needed both but neither were being given to her.

Her eyes were wide and bloodshot as she looked up, reaching a desperate and bone-dry hand towards the guards but again they ignored her.

"Beeeezie!" she gasped, her voice hoarse and grim "Beeeezie!"

She could see images of her sister, images of when both were so happy and free. Before Princess Vanellope came back, before Turbo.

Before all this fear.

The girl took another breath but it remained locked in her chest. A dry rattle echoed in her throat as she finally fell forward, her body smoking as it seemed to beat its last.

"So, what should we do with her?" asked one guard.

"I wanna see how long she last before she shrives to the size of a raisin!" laughed the other.

The heat continued to billow around the girl as she lay motionless and seemingly lifeless on the floor.

Not a sound, not a sound other than that of the sizzling heat.

But then…

_*Babump*_

Her heart.

_*Babump*_

Her frozen heart.

From when the torture began, it seemed that her heart had been the least affected of everything. It held in the coldness that had been subjected first but did not freeze. It was as if it WANTED to absorb as much chill as if could and now that the heat increased….

It began to beat.

And beat.

And beat.

Coolness began to slowly form in Nougetsia's body, coolness and water. Coolness, water, and air. Her body began to round out one more, returning to the familiar suppleness that it had.

But there was one different.

Her skin.

Instead of regaining its pink color, it seemed to turn a strange mixture of blue and white, the tips of her fingers translucent.

Like eyes.

_*Babump*_

"Mmm, what?"

The girl rose, feeling sleepy as her body returned to a normal temperature but as she sat on the ground, she failed to see that whatever had formed within her had begun to spread.

And it was spreading in the form of ICE.

"S-Stop, look!" said a guard from behind the door, noticing that the room was being covered in a sheet of ice "Ya see this?!"

Finally realizing what was happening, Nougetsia stood on her feet and gasped, the entire room slowly being covered with sugar ice. It swept around the floors, it went on the door, it crawled up the walls but most of all it began to destroy the heater that continued to pour steam into the room. The hot air was no match for what Nougetsia was unwilling producing, the machines clanking heavily before they finally broke apart! The racer screamed and ducked but as her fear began to rise, so did the snow around her. She lowered her arms, surprised to feel the wind whipping between her wingers, the ice kissing her cheeks.

It was like she was driving through her favorite snow stage in Sugar Rush again, the happiness returning to her. She slowly became lost in the frost, her wind whipping around her and picking her off the ground. She twirled about her hair becoming loose from its pony tail, the dark locks flowing gracefully in the wind but….

But she didn't stop.

She didn't WANT to stop.

"Aaaah, so refreshing…." The girl hummed to herself, not even realizing the small STORM she had kicked up in her holding cell.

And it grew.

"DUCK FOR COVER!"

And grew.

"THE ENTIRE ROOM IS FREEZING!"

And GREW until…

"HA!"

Nougetsia held out both her hands and gave a mighty cheer, an ENORMOUS blast of ice and snow BLEW out of the room, filling the entire cell block and freezing the guards in their place. As for the racer herself, she merrily glided out of the room, trails of snowflakes following her.

"I'm OUTTA there!" she gasped, waving herself with all the cool air that she could "MAN! I didn't think I would-!"

The girl clamped her hands over her mouth, seeing a large cloud of frost billowing forth. She looked back, finally taking notice in the great mess she had caused but as she looked forth, she still could not believe what she was seeing.

Had she done all of this? Was it even possible?

"W-what did I DO?!" the girl gasped, holding her arms "I-I don't have-!"

**_"BWAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAR!"_**

"GAH!" the girl cried, another puff of mist coming from her mouth "Was that a BEAR?!"

The entire area began to quake as the girl heard guards screaming for their lives, the roaring continued as it tore through the palace. Not waiting another second, Nougetsia BLASTED up the door, holding out her hands to break it away with more ice but as she walked to the top of the floors….

Nothing.

There was nothing in the halls, not a guard nor racer.

Then what had made that noise?

She tip-toed as carefully as she could, all things considered as she was spreading ice and snow everywhere.

"Psst, is anyone there?" she asked, eyes darting to find someone "I promise not to freeze you…."

_"Rrrrrrgh!"_

Again, the girl gasped. Stopping in her tracks and dashing behind a corner. There was something there all right but what.

"Wait…you're doin' this for Beezie…" the racer nodded to herself, a fist to her heart "Beezie, Beezie….B-B-Beezie!"

The girl peeked but what she laid her eyes upon next made her realize just how twisted things had become in the game.

It was huge.

Blue and white fur.

Sharp claws.

Jutting teeth and horns.

But the colors, they were all so familiar.

Nougetsia's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, her jaw dropping.

"A-Adorabeezle?!"


	15. Torvald

Torture Fourteen – Torvald

"We got us another recolor!" laughed the guard as they shoved Torvald aside, the girl growling deeply.

She hated being called a recolor, one of the greatest insults to be called within the land of sugar and sweets. People knew it was wrong but they did it anyway.

Recolor, recolor, recolor.

She hated hearing that word.

She and her sisters were more than just recolors of one another and people knew that!

They just didn't care.

The butter-colored girl tripped on her feet as she was lead into the cage.

"Puh, figures tha lil butter finger would have BUTTER FEET as well!" laughed a guard, making sure that Torvald tripped again for good measure.

And then there was that insult as well.

Torvald tried the hardest of all three of the mint sisters to stand out as something more, to be something more than a klutz but after the reinstatement of Vanellope to the throne, that's all they seemed to see her as.

In actuality, anyone who WASN'T Vanellope in the game was seen as some lower racer but of everyone, the pallet swaps caught the worst of it.

_"Man, when is this gonna end?"_

"It ends…." Cooed a voice on the intercom "When I feel like it! An' who knows when THAT will be! I might continue on with this lil torture of mine night after night if it entertains me enough!"

Why couldn't Torvald be as brave and strong as Minty or calm and mature as Sticky? Surly those two were able to make it through whatever they were going through but for Torvald, the girl felt like she was shaking her socks.

She looked down; SHE WAS.

"Oh, right."

"IN HERE!" cried the guard as he yanked the racer by her hair and tossed her into a cell. Torvald rolled a few times but her journey to torture wasn't over just yet. She felt the floor slopping down and she only continued to roll, picking up speed as she slid down a vat.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she screamed, finally managing to sit up and putting her hands on the bottom of her skirt "AM I TALL ENOUGH TO EVEN GET ON THIS RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE?!"

*BONK!*

She landed on something soft, only to bounce off and land on yet another squishy item. For a few moments, Torvald bounced around, finally coming to a stop as she landed in-between two….

Two?

Two WHAT?

She munched the items that had gone into her mouth, swallowing hard.

"Mmmmm…." She said, licking her lips. It tasted….GOOD.

It wasn't sweet but it sure was filling.

She looked down, gazing around her prison to find that she had fallen into a cell that was filled with…BREAD.

Loaves and loaves of bread!

"Bread?" the girl asked as she scratched her head "Funny finding all of this here…"

"Oh, but it will make sense soon enough, RECOLOR."

Torvald jolted at the loud sound behind her, looking around to find nothing. She quickly realized however that somewhere, Vanellope was watching her, the girl scrambling to her feet and ducking away.

"Oh, don't hide, RECOLOR." The girl chuckled "You're gonna miss out on all the FUN!"

Torvald wasn't stupid; she knew that whatever fate was to come upon her wasn't going to be FUN, especially if Vanellope was connected to it.

"W-Where are Minty and Sticky?" Torvald said, trying to sound tough "You better not have HURT them, or-!"

"Or?" Vanellope interrupted "Tori, this is a TORTURE. Of COURSE those recolors you call sisters are being punished to the fullest!"

Torvald wasn't one to get angry but this time she felt mad enough to grab one of the giant loaves of bread and HEAVE it at Vanellope, wherever she was.

"TELL ME!" the girl demanded, pointing nowhere in particular "Tell me where Mintz and Sticky are before-!"

"Oh shush…" Vanellope said, sounding more like a scolding parent "You're making me lose my appetite."

"F-For what?"

"Hmm, I felt in the mood for some late night breakfast!" the girl laughed "An' what BETTER than some BUTTERED….EVERYTHING!"

Torvald gulped as she looked around, gripping onto the giant bread loaves as much as she could. Something told her that it would be safe for her to stay with the bread and as she looked down….

"Ooooh BOY!"

She quickly saw that she was right.

The floor began to split up under the girl, revealing a shiny black surface underneath. The butterscotch racer wasn't about to find out the purpose of the thing though and she leapt forward, grabbing onto a loaf and hanging on for dear life.

"A-As long as I stay here-!" she gasped "I THINK I'll be alright!"

A large burbling sound was heard throughout the room, the girl looking around franticly.

"What was that?! Who's there?!"

The gurgling got louder but it wasn't the only thing to make a sudden change.

As with so many of the punishments, HEAT was coming into play. Torvald could feel a great heat rising from below, her legs kicking in the air as they blistered in her stockings. She made a quick glance, seeing waves of heat coming from the black surface.

That's when it hit her.

This surface, it wasn't just a FLOOR.

IT WAS A GRIDDLE!

She gripped onto the bread even tighter, hoping that it would keep her above but she found that she was losing her grip, her sweaty hands making it harder than ever to grab on for safely.

"G-gotta keep holin' o-!"

Rushing water?

Why was their WATER surrounding the room?

The racer's blood ran cold, looking up to see grates above her. She could only imagine that Vanellope had planned to BOIL her to death if water were going to come into play but as the rushing liquid moved closer, she suddenly got an eye for what it was.

"N-no!"

Great golden waves of cream came pouring in from above and it came in such a deluge that Torvald was helpless to hang on.

She screamed in horror, the heavy liquid falling atop her.

BUTTER.

Pure, grade A butter.

It was filling the room and now that it had spilled out onto the pan….

It was frying.

It was COOKING Torvald alive.

The girl screamed in great pain not only from the hot surface of the pan but from the searing heat of the butter, the liquid sizzling her at every move she made. She couldn't escape, only scream, her body frying no matter what she did.

The heat was unbearable, the oil covering her from head to toe and coating her with a sheet of pure liquid heat. She tried to stand on the piping hot griddle but it was only causing her shoes to melt and once they were gone…

More pain.

More, unfiltered pain.

There was no escape from it, the racer wailing out as more and more butter churned and melted around her, trapping her in an oily death pool that saw to turn her into a DEEP-FRIED Torvald Batterbutter.

"AND NOW THE FLIP!"

Guards from outside the prison cell turned a dial, the skillet shaking and forcing Torvald to fall onto her bottom on the heated griddle. She screamed again but it did nothing to stop what was coming next. The griddle moved, it shook, it swirled Torvald all around and then….

"UP!"

The griddled LAUNCHED Torvald into the air, flipping her so high she HIT the ceiling with a dull thud. Not only was every part of her body BURNING but now it was suffering from blunt force trauma.

Was there nothing she could do to be spared?

"So, is the butter all melted?" asked another guard.

"Yup! Let's add in the batter!"

Batter?

The grates above opened once more, this time a thick pancake batter poured in and once again washed Torvald around. Just like the butter before it, it heated up to unbearable temperatures and burned the girl something awful.

She reached out her crispy hands, weeping and moaning for anything to save her.

But there was no one there. No one to hear her cries, no one to hear her screams.

She was just to suffer like the other racers.

And in the back of her mind, she knew that Vanellope was enjoying this, enjoying EVERY bit.

"So, how does it feel RECOLOR?" laughed guard as they spoke on the microphone.

"Which one is she again?" asked the other.

"I don't know and I don't care….they all look a like!"

In the midst of being fried, flattened and flipped, Torvald could still somehow make out what was being thrown at her. She opened her blood-shot eyes, her mouth watering, her hands twitching.

"N-not recolors!" she managed to say, though it came out in a disgusting snarl.

Another flip sent the girl flying off into the air but to her 'luck', she landed on the griddle FACE FIRST, the muddled screamed heard by no one as the pancake laid atop her.

"Should we flip again?"

"Nah, let it cook for a while. The princess likes her pancakes WEEEEELL done!"

The pancake continued to fry on the red hot griddle but more butter began to pile in as well. It came from all directions, flooding into the cell and mixing with everything in the room. It SOAKED into the giant pancake, the thing turning into a soggy mess as it smoked on the griddle.

The butter bubbled and fries, Torvald still stuck face down on the thing.

And then…

It began to leech its way into the circuits.

Sparks flew everywhere as hot butter caused the mechanisms to short circuit but the guards only continued to laugh, allowing the torture to continue. By now, the pancake was SMOKING but was it coming from its own surface or from the girl trapped underneath?

No one cared and no one was going to go in check.

Boiling butter, lumpy batter and a soggy pancake were the only thing that could be seen as sparks jumped everywhere but the concoction began to turn, the batter curdling before everyone to witness. The butter began to smoke as its temperature began to rise rapidly, the surface glowing brightly.

"Almost done….almost done!"

*BAM!*

A large explosion rocked the room but it was soon followed by another, the massive popping coming every second.

"Ya think we've hit her enough?" asked someone from afar, feeling a little uncomfortable by the loud explosions that were happing in the room but before anything could be done to flip over the smoldering pancake.

**_*BA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*_**

The pancake EXPLODED in a mass of chunks, melted butter flying everywhere! A second after the mess cleared, the guards looked down, seeing that Torvald now lay on her back on the griddle, her eyes closed but to their shock, her body seemed to be healed, not a sight of burnt and melted skin anywhere.

"She still alive?"

"Ya wanna go an' CHECK?"

Torvald moaned, tasting loads of butter and vanilla pancake batter in her mouth. She licked the mixture from her mouth but slowly sat up, her head pounding.

"Mmmmm…." She groaned "What happened? Reminds me of that time Minty added POP ROCKS to breakfast!"

As she leaned on the greasy griddle, her hand gave way, causing her to slide on the pan.

"WAUUUGH!"

She flailed her arms as she went sailing for the end but as she held out her arms…

"Stop, stop, STOP!"

*POM POM POM!*

Small balls of butter shoot out from her hand, the lot rolling as she then came to a stop headlong into the edge of the pan. Torvald groaned again as she fell back on her side, bells going off in her head.

"M-Maybe I should have taken those skating lessons….that way I could stand on this!"

"THAT WAY I COULD STAND ON THIS!"

"THAT WAY I COULD STAND ON THIS!"

"COULD STAND ON THIS!"

Torvald yelped as she struggled to get back on her bottom, looking around for the source of the voice.

"W-who was that?!"

"Me!" called a voice.

"Me!" called another.

"ME!" called the third.

The girl shivered as she turned her head and what she saw her nearly sent her FLYING up into the ceiling once more.

For there before her sat THREE copies of herself.

BUTTER COPIES.

"W-W-WHAT?!" the girl stammered, trying to claw her way back but the copies only crawled CLOSER, their eyes big and their smiles BIGGER.

"NNK! WHAT?!"

"WHAT?!"

"WHAT?!"

The copies giggled cluelessly as they all went to their master, the girl unsure HOW to feel as she looked upon the butter forms of herself.

"Ur, is there any way we can talk this out…girls?"

"Talk this out!"

"This out!"

"GIRLS!"

The racer shook her head as she tried to make sense of what had happened.

There was all that butter, all that batter, all that electricity.

Did that have something to do with it? After all, the butter MUST have gotten into her system as she cooked and the sparks COULD have led to something….but the more she thought, the less sense things began to make! She grabbed her head and kicked her feet, screaming in pain.

"J-Just stop!"

The clones moved back from their master, all looking concerned at the creator.

"Stop?"

"Stop?"

"Stop who?"

"A-anyone!" Torvald cried, tears rolling down her face, not noticing that her tears were turning into giant gobs of butter as they hit the floor, MORE clones rising from them "I-I-I just wanna get outta here!"

"GET OUT OF HERE!" cheered one happily.

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

"NNK! OUTTA HERE!"

The clones all began chitterling and tittering amongst themselves as they made a grab for any unstill they saw, marching right up to the windows and hitting them with great force.

"Let's break things!"

"Let's smash stuff!"

"Nnk! LET BREAK SOME BONES!"

Torvald looked up, watching as her 'clones' broke through the glass and SWARMED inside the guard station, the large cookie guards screaming in horror as they were covered with butter and battered senseless.

"G-Get back you creeps!" one cried, slamming his fist through the head of the butter clone but it only continued to move forward, a huge spatula over her head.

"NNK! SWAT HIM!" sang one, watching her 'sister' bring the heavy tool down on the guard, smashing his head in.

Torvald couldn't believe what she was seeing but as soon as the clones had swamped the station, they had destroyed every guard in the place, the things still laughing gleefully before turning to their master.

"We destroyed them!"

"We destroyed them!"

"Destroyed them!"

"NNK! THEM!"

There had to be at least more than a dozen butter clones before Torvald but she didn't know what to do with them. Could she make more, could she call them back?

"E-Er….come here?"

The group filed together, their soulless smiles and eyes all aimed at the girl but they stopped once they were an inch away, doing nothing to comfort her.

"U-Um, come back?"

The clones did nothing but continued to smile, cocking their heads to get a better look.

"There's GOTTA be somethin' I can do here…" the girl said "Somethin' I can-!"

Torvald snapped her fingers.

"WHEEEEEE!" the clones cried out happily as a *POM!* rang through the room. The clones then exploded, returning to their butter forms on the skillet.

Torvald blinked, unable to move or say anything to what had happened. She bent over and poked the butter finding that even after it had taken the form of….HER, it was now just normal butter once more.

But somehow, she was able to create copies.

Butter pallets.

And they were all in her command.

There was more however, the girl looking down at her hand. The slippery butter seemed to jut from her hands and, after a little trial and error of making it to the guard shelter, Torvald was able to climb out. She tip-toed through the battered pieces of the guards on the floor and found herself at the cell door.

She looked up at the huge thing but an idea came to her mind.

"I wonder…."

She stuck her finger in the lock, a wave of butter shooting into the nooks and crannies of the lock. It was so filled with butter that the tight inner workings began to slip, and with the right twist from Torvald herself.

It opened.

Butter still dripping off her, the small racer peeked into the halls but found no one. The lights were dim and the area was silent.

It was haunting.

The racer needed some aid.

Or two.

OR three.

Or four.

She raised her hand, forcing her energy on her palm as four butter balls formed from within, floating up before landing with a *SPLAT!* on the ground.

The quivered, they shook.

And with a *POM!*

"NNK! Buttery!"

"BUTTERY!"

"BUTTER!"

"B-B-B-BUTT'AH!"

"Well, this will take some time to get used to…." Torvald said with a smile "But I am sure we can make some good with this….unique set up."

The clones all nodded together, awaiting the orders of their master.

"C'mon girls!" the racer said happily "We have some sisters to find!"

"SISTERS!"

"SISSIES!"

"SIIIIISTERS!"

"NNK! SIS!"


	16. Confrontation

Confrontation

This was it.

The big one.

The most horrid of the racers was being lead to her end fate. Unlike the other racers, Taffy's path to her torture was one laid out in public. All the candy citizens were there to watch her take the walk of shame to her final destination.

The girl was bound by her neck, wrist and waist, the only thing being free were her feet but with how many people GUARDED her, it wasn't as if she could escape anytime soon. Her mascara was dripping horribly, her eyes looking about at the sneering faces and the taunting grins of the candy citizens. The only thing that made her happy in all of the humiliation was that her own fans were not there.

No, they were suffering another fate.

Less painful than Taffyta's but since they were merely ASSOCIATED with her, they were all stung up, hanging helplessly as the other citizens poked and harassed them, throwing things at the tiny gobs of candy. They mewed and squeaked helplessly, covering their faces with their tiny limbs but there was no getting away the strange form of 'justice' Vanellope had planned for all who had wronged her.

All who had wronged her?

Taffyta began to think; yes she and the other racers had bullied her relentlessly but it wasn't as if the rest of the game feared and shunned her. It wasn't as if the very citizens who were wasting no time in throwing things at Taffyta were there on the sidelines, screaming and crying out whenever King Candy even so much as UTTERED Vanellope's name aloud.

And yet they were ALLOWED to join in on the humiliation? They were to be rewarded?

Something was rotten in Sugar Rush, and the mere realization made Taffyta's fear subdue a bit. It was a realization that made her see that things were not as equal or fitting as Vanellope had promised them. Everyone had turned against the racers, picking up the first chance they had to go along with Vanellope to cover their own butts even when they too had feared and ostracized her.

Taffyta burned within at the thought but it did nothing to save her from her punishment, her footsteps taking her even closer to the palace, things still being thrown at her from afar. The guards lead her UP the stairs for some reason rather than taking her into the deep, dark depths of the fungeon.

"W-Where are we going?" the racer meeped but the massive confection guards said nothing, their focus on what was ahead.

Taffyta passed several portraits and statues lying the halls, all of them of Vanellope, the girl painted in inflated glory. The strawberry racer KNEW Vanellope was the rightful ruler of the game but the way the gaudy portraits lined the hall made her even more sick. Before Turbo, such trappings were not placed on the walls. The castle used to be bright and merry, welcoming to everyone in the kingdom.

But now things were different.

It seemed that Vanellope wasn't going to waste a beat reminding everyone who was the cream of the crop and who was below her.

"Why HELLO, Ms. Muttonfudge!" sang a voice from afar.

The blond racer gasped as she looked ahead, seeing Vanellope sitting upon her massive throne, her eyes showing forth a girl who was all a flutter with delight in what was going on and what she was viewing. Taffyta was astounded, disturbed by how happy Vanellope looked but she could not move.

She WANTED to move. She wanted to rush in and kick the girl right in her teeth but she was too tied down to go anywhere.

"Boys, what have you been doing to her?" the princess said, feigning concern "I told you to BRING HER TO ME, not hog tie her up!"

The guards all looked at each other in confusion, the largest two of the bunch clutching their ropes of the collared prisoner.

"Boys, untie her…." Vanellope said daintily, "We have things to discuss…."

The guards only grunted in agreement as they bent down and untied the bonds keeping Taffyta from moving but once free, the girl found she was unable to move once again.

She was free; just like she wanted. She could have easily turned back and ran but it felt as if her knees were glued to the floor. Vanellope beamed at the girl, a twinkle in her eye.

"There's no need for you to KNEEL towards me…" the girl chortled "Come over here, Taffy. I've missed talking to you."

Her face was still soaked with mascara marks but her brows furrowed. She wasn't buying it; not with what she had gone through. The strawberry racer stood up on her feet and crossed her arms against her chest.

"Can it, SCHWEETZ!" she spat "No amount of sugar coating is gonna cover up what ya did ta us!"

Vanellope sat rather confused at her throne, cocking her head to the left "Taffyta, whatever are you talking about?"

"DON'T PLAY WITH ME!" the racer barked, marching over to Vanellope "You think you're so cute! So sly! You think you can toy with us like this!"

"Goodness, whatever has gotten into y-"

Her mind filled with nothing but pure rage for what had happened to her and the other racers, Taffyta blanked out for a moment, her arms going back and SHOVING Vanellope to the ground but with such force that the girl went FLYING from the throne and toppled on the floor.

The guards gasped in shock as they looked at the two girls, one laying on the floor while the other stood in rage, her eyes down to pinpoints and breathing so hard that had some noticed it, they would have seen the STEAM pouring from her mouth and nostrils.

Vanellope lay on the floor, her body glitching once or twice.

But then…a giggle.

And the giggle grew into a laugh.

And that laugh grew, and grew, and GREW.

The princess turned on her back, laughing up towards the ceiling as her jolly sounds filled the entire castle but Taffyta didn't look too happy. In fact, she was once again disturbed by how Vanellope was acting.

"O-Oh Taffyta!" the girl glitched, holding her sides "You-you never fail to entertain me."

Seeing that Vanellope had not been fazed by the attack, Taffyta took a step back, only to walk right into the burly chest of even more guards.

"S-shut up!" the racer shouted "D-Don't think I'm scared of you!"

There was a bright flash as Vanellope suddenly appeared before the girl, her finger tickling under her chin.

"Scared?" Vanellope snickered, her eyes narrowing "Scared….hmmm, that's not the word I'm looking for. It's not strong enough! Not…not ME enough!"

Vanellope grabbed Taffyta by her cheeks, holding them roughly as she inched even closer towards the terrified racer.

"I want you to be TERRIFED….as I want everyone to be!" Vanellope cackled "Because that's what I've learned from King Candy!"

Taffyta backed away, smacking Vanellope's hand away "T-Turbo?! W-why would you-?!"

"There was somethin' so…so INSPIRIN' about tha man that I couldn't ignore!" Vanellope cooed, waltzing over to Taffyta and placing a hand on her shoulder "I learned that tha BEST way ta keep a kingdom in your command ISN'T ta be lovin' or carin'. No, no, no. In order ta get a kingdom to care, ya gotta remind 'em WHO'S THE BOSS AROUND HERE."

A sinister smile on her face, Vanellope PUNCHED Taffyta in the stomach, sending her gasping for breath back into the arms of the guards.

"I tried bein' nice an' what happened? Turbo snuck in an' took this game away from ME!"

Still gasping for air, Taffyta took note in how Vanellope addressed herself and the game.

It was no longer THEIR game, the RACERS' game.

It was VANELLOPE'S game and her game alone.

It was becoming apparent to the strawberry racer how Vanellope viewed not only herself but the game as well but if this were the case….did the same thoughts hold true for the rest of the arcade?

Taffyta could not believe what she was thinking but after everything she had done, after all the lies that Turbo had told her while in the guise of a kindly king, there were much bigger monsters around in the arcade.

Monsters bigger than her, monsters bigger than Turbo.

But the worse part about it was that in this case, Vanellope had gathered such a following, such a crowd that was it at all possible to convince them all that was being done to her and the other racers?

Was it too late to show them? Would anyone believe them?

From the way Vanellope acted as if she held the arcade on a string, it seemed that was just the case.

"I wanna make one thing clear ta ya, CRY BABY…" the princess hissesd, her mood darkening greatly "You're in MY home here. NONE of this stuff belongs ta ANY of ya! The track? It's MINE! Your cars? THEY'RE MINE! EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF CANDY BELONGS IN MY KINGDOM AND MY KINGDOM ALONE!"

Taffyta scowled up at the princess, her body shaking as she bit her lip.

And to think people wanted her to become FRIENDS with Vanellope, to accept her for as she was.

If only they could see things now.

The princess gave Taffyta a look of pity, her hands clasped together "But you poor dear, it just seems that you can't get a hold of that thought can ya, HMMMM?"

Taffyta snorted, turning her head away from the girl but Vanellope continued to toy with her, reaching down and pulling her cheek.

"This is why I have saved the best reeducation work for you!" Vanellope laughed "It's properly suited for someone of your, how can I put this, someone of your PROGRAMMING!"

"I swear…." Growled Taffyta "If this is your idea of revenge, you have NO idea what it is, TOOTS!"

"Take her away…" yawned the princess as she sat back in her throne "She is a bore to me now…."

"A BORE? A BORE?!" Taffyta screamed, her face turning red "YA WON'T BE SINGIN' THAT SAME COCKY TUNE ONCE I COME BACK! ONCE WE ALL COME BACK!"

"Oh boo, as if I am worried what you little waste of pixels will do to me once this is over…." The princess sniffed. She gave Taffyta once lass passing smile, her teeth gleaming "But I challenge ya, Taffy. I challenge to see if you can do HALF as much as I am right now. But knowin' ya an' tha rest of ya peasants, your modes of revenge will be as worthless as your driving skills."

"SAYS THE GIRL WHO CHEATS AND KNOWS IT!"

Vanellope glitched again, her face turning red. She glared at Taffyta but was even more angered by the smile on the blonde's face.

"Oh, ya know it?"

"Take here away."

Taffyta licked her lips, her lips pursed in a catty grin "Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaat….."

"I SAID TAKE HER AWAY!"

"Cheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeat."

"BREAK HER!"

"Can't even get pass without the glitch….."

"SNAP HER!"

"Won't admit you can't race without the gliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiith…."

"STOMP HER! SMASH HER!" bellowed Vanellope "I WANT HER CODE SO BATTERED THAT A GLITCH WILL BE TOO GOOD FOR HER! I WANT THEM ALL GONE! I WANT THEM ALL DESTROYED!"

Taffyta pressed forward in the hands of her captures but a heavy hand SMACKED her across the face.

"Shut up MUTTONFLUB!" the guard said, leading the disoriented girl away "Let's see how much lip ya have left once we're done!"

Taffyta was soon led away from the throne room, Vanellope panting in anger as she watched the crowds go. As soon as the doors slammed shut, she marched off, following the red carpet all the way back to the security room. She threw open the doors and sat herself in the chair.

The screens…they were filled with shots from the various torture rooms in the castle, the candy racers all strapped to their custom devices and panicking, fearing what was to become them.

Vanellope took a microphone, clutching it in her hands angrily.

"I'm sure after this night…." The girl growled "They'll know who the rightful ruler is!"


	17. Taffyta

Torture Fifteen– Taffyta Muttonfudge

Nothing was to be spared, nothing was to be wasted.

The best of the best was awaiting Taffyta Muttonfudge as she was dragged down into her holding cell, the guards all lined up and waiting for her.

But why wait?

Why wait for the torture to begin on the little racer?

After all, the princess has instructed to treat their 'guest' with the upmost of care!

And by 'care', the guards knew they had all the free range to handle the girl as roughly as they wanted.

One grabbed Taffyta by the collar of her jacket, yanking her back so hard she nearly SLIPPED from it but they made sure was kept well in their hands. She was rushed down the rest of the way, her teeth chattering at how fast they were moving down the stairs. Once the door had been opened before her, Taffyta got a good view of her 'accommodations'.

Whips, chains, and bars. Spikes, spears, and hammers.

They were all there on the wall, all lined up for her to see.

And see them she did, her spine shaking the more she looked.

She gulped, struggling in the arms of the massive cake guard to find any sort of means to free herself.

"LET ME GO!" she cried, her little legs flailing about "LET ME GO OR-!"

"Or WHAT!?" Vanellope roared over her intercom, sounding much more cross than she had been with the other racers "I thought I told you before Muttonfudge, there's nothing ya nor those other peasants can do now! For the first time in your life, suck up your tears and TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT!"

"Punishment?! PUNISHMENT?!" Taffyta roared back, worming her way in the arms of the guard "What you're doin' is BEYOND THAT….."

She stopped, her energy draining a bit.

"But you know that_…don't you?"_

"Of course I do!" the princess said. Back inside the security room, she patted her forehead with a cloth, her nerves fried after her fight with the strawberry racer. Thank goodness no one else could see the condition she was in otherwise they would have noticed the chink in her supposed impervious armor.

Taffyta's comment earlier had gotten to her but with such rage still boiling through her, Vanellope was more determined than EVER to ensure Taffyta, and the other racers as well, got MORE than what they deserved.

After all the years of torment, after all the years of following a fake ruler, Vanellope wanted them all to slither and beg in her might.

That's how things were and that's how they would ALWAYS be under her rule.

"You have no one to blame but yourself for this!" Vanellope said, sounding a bit winded, as if she were fighting back something else from within "Stop pointing your fingers at ME! STOP YELLING AT ME!"

"I WILL WHEN YOU STOP THIS!" the strawberry racer cried, tears of anger rolling down her cheeks "IT WON'T STOP VANELLOPE! I REFUSE TO!"

"THEN I REFUSE TO, TOO!"

"NO! I DO!"

"NO, ME!"

"NO, ME!"

The guards looked back and forth between the captive racer and the intercom, the girls engaging in a heated match of insult tennis as neither one wanted to back down. Vanellope didn't want Taffyta to go without receiving the present she had in store for her but after being humiliated enough times, Taffyta refused to accept it any longer.

It was an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

But Vanellope knew one thing; ONE of the girls was going to break and it wasn't HER.

"Strap her to the table!" Vanellope cried out, the guards following their orders as the threw Taffyta upon a great stale cake table, strapping her ankles and wrist to the contraption.

"LEMME GO!" Taffyta wailed at the top of her lungs, thrashing and fighting anything that came near her "THIS ISN'T OVER!"

"YES IT IS!" Vanellope screamed, gripping onto the microphone as if it were Taffyta's throat "I've made up my mind Taffyta! Once this is over-! NO, this will NEVER be over!"

"HUH?!"

"You've shown to me that it's gonna take a lot more to get through that stupid skull of yours who's the BOSS here!" the princess yelled "There will be much more where this came from, MUCH more but you know what?! This will be your last!"

"M-my last WHAT?" Taffyta shivered, her brow sweating.

"Your last…ANYTHING!" Vanellope panted, turning red in the face "I want to make sure you feel tha pain but after this, you're gonna watch! You're gonna WATCH as everyone else suffers, all thanks ta ya!"

"No…." Taffyta choked "NO! NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"

"YES I CAN! I'M THE PRINCESS AN' AS PRINCESS I DO DECREE THAT IT'S ABOUT TIME I GET SOME FREAKIN' HAPPINESS IN THIS GAME!"

In her fit of rage, Vanellope threw the microphone to the ground, the thing clanging loudly but….

But she stopped.

She froze.

She slowly sank to her knees and sobbed.

"I want HAPPINESS!" she shook, now her eyes filled with tears "I WANT TO BE HAPPY. I WANT TO BE HAPPY!"

Everyone could hear the sobs from both within the castle and out.

They all heard it.

And they all stopped.

_"V-Vanellope?"_

The princess stopped, still clutching onto her arms as she turned back towards the monitors. The others were all a blur in her view, the only one showing up being the one in Taffyta's cell. She could see the strawberry racer looking towards the intercom with a bewildered look on her face.

"Vanellope….what's….WHAT'S HAPPENED TO YOU?!"

The princess frowned, staggering back to her feet as she slammed her hand on the controls "I want her PULLED!"

"P-Pulled?"

"Do it!" Vanellope roared in madness "DO IT NOW!"

Taffyta let out a terrified gasp once she realized that there was no reasoning with Vanellope at this point. She had been pushed too far off the edge for any sort of reasoning and for that?

Everyone was going to suffer.

The princess' maddened cackled echoed throughout the entire castle as Taffyta was strapped up, her wails nothing compared to the powerful booming of the laughter. The strawberry race tried to kick, she tried to scream but nothing was happening.

This was it.

This was the end.

"Let us begin…"

Taffyta desperately looked around, seeing guards come at her from four corners. Again she thrashed and whined but it did nothing to keep them away. They pulled off her gloves and stockings, leaving her fingers and toes bare.

"On three…"

"NO!"

"One…."

Taffyta was nearly frothing at the mouth in her lunacy, seeing as the guards lifted up hammers near her.

"Two…."

"PLEASE!"

And then….

***CRUNCH***

Vanellope HAD said something about breaking all of Taffyta's fingers, something about how it would be fun to hear the bones snapping, the blood pouring.

Well, that was happening now.

Taffyta let out an ear shattering scream of pain once the weights were smashed upon her but the guards did not stop.

Twice.

They continued.

Three times.

It still came.

Hit after hit after hit, the weights came down upon Taffyta, Vanellope laughing up a storm.

"Can you drive now?!" she laughed, lapping up the cries of pain from her lead tormentor "Can you drive now?!"

Though Taffyta was crying out, it wasn't just tears of pain in her eyes. There was something else; something much more sinister and dark. Hearing Vanellope laugh at her was boring deep into her soul and code but it wasn't affecting her as Vanellope had thought.

Vanellope wanted Taffyta to suffer, to feel the pain and anguish in physical form that she had felt for years.

But something was starting to go awry.

The laughing, the taunting, the lies.

It was drilling to Taffyta alright….

But it was setting free something more.

The pounding only continued, the girl's limbs a jumbled mess by the time everything was done. The cake table she was on was stained red with her own blood and moving was next to impossible. Even if it hurt to move, it wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Nothing responded.

"Are the main points broken?" Vanellope gasped, sounding surprisingly sick on the other end.

"Yes, your majesty!" answered one of the guards "Shall we continue?"

"Of course!" the princess cackled "You know what to do!"

What was awaiting next for the strawberry racer? What other tortures were to befall her?

She would have rather taken a push in a puddle than what was happening now. She would take anything else to avoid this pain but her cries meant nothing to the kingdom she had once considered a safe haven, that she had once called home.

It was now Hell.

Hell in the arcade.

And Vanellope was the devil who watched over all.

"Pull the cranks!"

A loud grinding turn was heard above and below the girl, Taffyta squeaking out as she looked to see gears pulling before her. It dawned on her what was to happen next.

After being broken, she was to be pulled….pulled so far who knew what was to happen.

"Y-YOU'RE MAD!" Taffyta managed to choke out "YOU'RE JUST PLAIN MADE!"

"Plain?" the girl replied "Give me some more credit than that, TAFFY! Put some FLAVOR into it!"

The gears were turned, Taffyta yelling out as her arms and legs were pulled painfully but she couldn't give in, not now! She had already cried so much in front of her crowd when Vanellope was revealed to be the true ruler of the game. People had that to hold over the girl but she wasn't going to let them have any more.

She was tired of this, she was tired of EVERYTHING.

If Vanellope was going to do this, then Taffyta wasn't going to give the girl the one thing she KNEW she wanted.

She wanted Taffyta to beg….but no more.

"UURGH!" Taffyta groaned as she was pulled again "Is that all ya got, GLITCH? IS THAT ALL YA GOT?!"

"AGAIN!"

The gears were turned, Taffyta feeling her arms and legs going out much further than they should have. Her skin was aching, feeling as if it were ready to tear but she knew she had some way to go, some way to go before THAT happened.

"It's just so WONDERFUL to see…." Vanellope laughed again "To see you turn into your name sake! It makes me wonder if your blood taste like strawberries as well!"

"U-urk, considering how BITTER you are, no wonder you're desperate for somethin' SWEET!" Taffyta coughed "All that anger held into you? Y-your candy heart must have turned as black as your soul! C-Cause you couldn't get enough….you can NEVER get enough!"

"PULL!"

Another painful pull was subject to the girl. She cried out but she did not call stop.

"A-Admit it. Y-You have everyone lapping at your feet b-but deep down, you KNOW you don't mean jack!"

"PULL!"

"You're just one of BILLIONS of princesses and racers i-in this place an'-an' one day, someone ELSE is gonna take your place! A-an' watcha gonna do-?!"

"PULL!"

"BOUT?!"

"PULL HER, DARN IT!"

"THEN, PRINCESS?!"

"PUUUUUUUUUUUUULL!"

Taffyta let out another horrid cry as the guards continued to crank, continued to turn. Her arms and legs were getting longer and longer, tighter and tighter. She could feel muscles RIP, bones POP, skin TEAR.

"Oh, poor child…." Vanellope said "I guess you ARE like taffy….if you pull too hard…"

The strawberry racer let out an unearthly growl, her eyes showing madness, sweat and blood spraying from her body.

"PRINCEEEEEEEEEEEEESS!"

"SHUT UP!"

"I'M STILL HERE PRINCESS!"

"PULL HER MORE!"

The cranks were turned once more, Taffyta feeling everything within her pulling to its limits but she continued to scream against Vanellope, both girls throwing insults and curses off one another.

Who was going to give first?

Vanellope?

Taffyta?

BOTH?

"YOU'RE JUST A SPECK IN THIS KINGDOM, MUTTONFUDGE!"

"AAAAUUUUURGH!"

"YES! YES! SCREAM! CRY! I WANT IT ALL!"

"N-NO! I'm n-not going to let you-!"

"Drop it! Just DROP IT! We both know you can't take this! You could NEVER take the weight of anything! That's why you were the first one to drop to your knees! The first one to cry! It's because you're NOTHING, Muttonfudge! That's the reason why you're on this table instead of me! HAHAHAH! Who's the one in PAIN an' who's the one GIVING IT!? WHO!? ANSWER M-!"

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURGH!"

And then….

**_*POP!*_**

Something went off.

Something finally snapped from within.

Whether it was due to her code, due to her state of mind…something happened.

Taffyta snapped.

"AUUUUUUUUUUUUURGH!" she bellowed, feeling every inch of her warping and glitching. Had the end finally come from her? Was her body regenerating, only for it to be pulled again?

It just continued to blink and flash brightly, the girl on the table crying out in pain as her insides fried, melted, swirled together.

Vanellope could only watch in horror on her screen but as she looked, she noticed that ALL of the monitors were flickering, all of the screens revealing that her simultaneous views of the racers' tortures revealed one shocking scene after the next!

Candlehead had set everything on fire!

Citrusella had electrocuted the guards!

Jubileena was spraying things with cherry juice!

Minty was beating everyone to a pulp!

Things were sliced, things were pummeled, things were going haywire everywhere.

Vanellope let out a shocked gasped as she walked back from the screens but her attention was drawn back to Taffyta, the girl screaming bloody murder without breath, her body still glitching horribly.

"VANELLOPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" the racer roared, her eyes rolling "I'M STILL HERE! I'M STILL HEEEEEEEEEERE!"

*SNAP!*

In a flash her right hand reformed back into place.

**_*SNAP!*_**

And then the left!

"RRRRGH! BACK OFF!" Taffyta roared, trying to lift her arms, unaware of the length they were at "I said BACK-!"

What had she done? Just what power had Vanellope unleashed upon herself and her subjects?

The trembling princess was certain that the only thing that could happen to the racers was the possibility of them expiring and regenerating! That's it!

But whatever was happening now, Vanellope had no explanation for it.

Had she caused something? Had the extreme tortures opened up something deep within their code?

The more Vanellope watched, the more she began to worry and the more she worried, the more she panicked.

The screens continued to flash, the power surging through them before they exploded, blowing the girl out of the room. She landed with a hard thud on the floor, the smoke choking the area for a moment or two. She weakly rose her head, her vision blurry as she turned her focus on the monitors.

They were all destroyed, not a single one whole, circuits and wires jutting from the broken glass.

In the silence of the room, Vanellope could hear the screams of many echoing throughout the halls but as she focused on them, it became clear that the voices crying out for help and mercy were NOT those of the racers but rather the guards who were supposed to hold them back, supposed to PROTECT her.

But if THEY were the ones suffering.

"I-I have to get out of here!" Vanellope stammered, picking up her skirt and running as fast as she could out the door.

"V-V-AN-O-P!" cackled a voice on the speaker "I-! DON'T-! FOR YOU!"

"W-atch O-!" a guard cried "She's breakin'-!"

And then…nothing. Just static and buzz.

Vanellope ran as fast as she could down the winding halls of her castle, the droning moans of the racers surrounding her at every corner.

_"Vaneeeeeellooooopeeeeeee….."_

"No…."

_"Vaaaaaaneeeeeelloooooopeeeeeee!"_

"Stay back!"

_"Vanellopeeeeee! Vanellopeeeeeeee! VANELLOPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_

Shadows loomed over her, hands reaching out from the darkness taking hold.

Claws, tentacles, ice and fire. She felt it all. It burned, it stung.

But…

There was nothing there.

The little racer screamed in fright, tripping on the last step that lead to the giant front doors. She didn't even wait, glitching through the walls and making her way to the car.

"Reset!" the girl panted, her shaking hand missing the key hole every time "I have to reset this game!"


	18. Reset

Reset

Vanellope was driving at top speeds down the track of the game. It may have been the middle of the night but there was a reason why the little princess was on such a late night mission.

A reset.

It was the only way she could save herself, save the game and return everything to normal.

It was as she had seen on the monitors in her palace; something had gone terribly wrong with the tortures and executions she planned for the racers. They had changed and they had changed in horrible ways….

But what was more, they were after her.

She could hear their voices, their moans and drones drowning out the sound of the engine.

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!" Vanellope growled, pounding a hand on the steering wheel "You can't stop me! You can't stop me now…."

_"Who says we WANT to stop you?"_

The girl gasped, looking around but seeing no one.

But the voice…it sounded so familiar.

_"S-Swizzle?"_

Where was he? The girl made a quick turn behind her but saw no one, her car the only one on the track.

And yet….she could hear Swizzle as clear as day.

"W-what trick is this?!"

_"It's not a trick…"_ the voice said, the tone so calm and soothing _"TRICKS…are not MY forte."_

"Then-!?"

_"I'm only going to say this once, PRINCESS….you know what you've done to us and unless you want it to continue…"_

Vanellope suddenly felt sleepy, her foot easing off the pedal.

"W-what is-?!"

_"I would advise…."_ The voice continued, growing deeper _"That you STOP!"_

The girl yelped, her mind coming to once she realized just where Swizz was.

In her HEAD.

"NO!" the girl shouted "Get out of me! Get out of…WHERE EVER YOU ARE!"

"Vaneeeeeeeeellope!" cackled a voice close by, one that wasn't in the girl's head. The girl turned, seeing what looked to be Gloyd's kart barreling down the track behind her but as she looked at it from her mirror, she could see that the usually colorful candy cart had changed as much as its owner.

The candy corn body was melted, its red hot engine belching smoke and flames all around, two large cackling traps riding alongside its driver. Vanellope could only look in utter horror as she took a look at the driver, two burning ember eyes glowing along with a crooked smile.

"YO." Gloyd said calmly, snapping his fingers as he let his FEET do the driving.

"G-Gloyd?!"

The pumpkin race sped ahead, driving up alongside Vanellope, so close that their karts nearly touched.

"E'lo, PRINCESS!" the racer chuckled, putting on his best Cockney accent "Quite tha hour ta be drivin', dontcha think?"

Vanellope couldn't ignore the maddened look in Gloyd's eyes but she watched as he reached into his glove compartment, pulling out one of his all favorite pumpkin spice bombs.

"'Ere, lemme give ya somethin' ta light tha WAY!"

The little bomb laughed gleefully as Gloyd FLIPPED it into Vanellope's cart, pulling back as the thing danced around on the princess' lap.

"AAAH!" she screamed, trying to drive and get the thing away from her at the same time "GET OFF! GET OFF!"

"BEHEHE!" the device cackled, leaping up and hugging the girl around the face.

Vanellope screamed again, her view blocked and her car swerving on the road. She took a hold of the bomb and ripped it from her face before tossing it back into the air. With a great explosion, the thing blew up, melted candy bits raining onto the ground. Free from the trick, the girl let out a small chuckle….

"N-Not fast enough!"

That was until she saw that in her haste, she had actually gone a bit off course from the road and was now heading towards a wall.

"Oh, SUGAR SN-!"

_*FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!*_

A large blast of cold air hit the girl, a track of ice forming under her tires. Just when it seemed as if she were going to go crashing head long into the wall, the car swerved, missing the surface by a near curve. Vanellope opened her eyes, watching the wall move away from her.

"W-what-!?"

***BOOM!***

The girl screamed again, two feet landing on the hood and freezing some parts of her kart.

"Princess…." Said a voice "Better watch where you drive…"

A bit of light allowed Vanellope to see the scowling face of Nougetsia looking down at her, the snow racer seemingly balanced even with Vanellope's mad attempts to get her off her car.

"OFF! GET OFF!" Vanellope shouted. Nougetsia only shook her head, more snow and ice coming from her body.

"No, just one more adjustment…."

"ADJUSTMENT?!"

The snow girl scowled, lifting a hand as a great SLOPE of ice formed underneath Vanellope's car, the princess unable to control herself as she flew through the air. She screamed but Nougetsia remained calm, finally launching herself off the hood and flying off.

"W-where is she-?!"

**_"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOAR!"_**

Vanellope soon realized what the point of Nougetsia's plan was; to get Vanellope into the gapping jaws of the monstrous Adorabeezle.

"Darn it…."

But wait!

*GLITCH!*

Vanellope glitched her way just in time before Adorabeastel clamped down upon her, the monster turning and giving chase after the princess. It didn't seem to matter how many times Vanellope tried to glitch her way ahead, the snow monster was still on her trail and not giving up.

"I can't use 'em up!" Vanellope panted, knowing that if she burnt herself out, it would be too late for her to run anywhere "I have to time it RIGHT!"

She looked to the left of herself, then the right.

She had to wall warp and she had to do it NOW.

*G-GLITCH!*

Not a good sign.

If the glitch was running low, Vanellope ran the risk of getting STUCK until she could regain herself but she had to risk it.

"C'mon, C'MON!"

**_"BWAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!"_**

And risk it she did.

*G-G-GLITCH!*

There was a flash, a spark…

And Vanellope GLITCHED out of the wall just before Adorabeastel could swipe her to shreds. Vanellope cheered as she went ahead but as she exited the icy cavern….she suddenly began to feel a little hot.

Very HOT!

"NELLY!" called a cheerful voice "There ya are!"

Vanellope gasped as she saw the fight of the green-flamed Candlehead FLYING next to her, the girl grinning from ear to ear.

"W-What HAPPENED to everyone?!"

"This?" the ditzy racer said, blinking in confusion "I dunno, but it sure is fun!"

"Candlehead, back OFF!" Vanellope growled, swerving a bit "Y-You're meltin' my…EVERYTHING!"

"I KNOW!" the girl laughed "But I can do so much MORE!"

Candlehead took a deep breath and blew out a massive wave of fire before Vanellope, some parts of her car POPPING due to the massive heat. The fire surrounded her from all directions, the girl spinning out of control. Candlehead stopped where she was, floating above as if she were proud of what she had done.

"See? Isn't it COOL!? Or…or should I say hot? Cool? Hot?...COT?"

Vanellope ducked for cover as her cart was once again pulled out of her control but as she went through the walls of flames she found that by perhaps by some miracle, or even Candlehead's own choice, the fire was so THIN that the only thing that happened that the side of the cart was just a tad crispier than normal.

As for Vanellope, she was still alive and well.

And still on a mission.

"Th-this is NUTS!" the girl panted, still driving as fast as she could "I definitely have to reset NOW!"

"RESET NOW!"

"RESET NOW!"

"NOW!"

"NOW!"

"NOW!"

"NNK!"

A chill went down the girl's spine as she looked to her side, seeing a massive ARMY of butter Torvalds lining the road, each one smiling and giggling dementedly.

"VANELLOPE!"

"NELLOPE!"

"OPE!"

"NNK! PRINCESS!"

_"Just smile and drive…"_ the girl said to herself "SMILE…and DRIVE!"

The butter clones soon began to follow the kart, the cackle of their joyous cheers and yelling sounding more like the screeches of a swarm ready to consume their prey but the closer they got to each other, the more they began to meld together.

And the more they melded together, the more butter formed.

And the more butter that formed, the bigger the way GOT!

"AW, HECK NA-!"

A wave of sweet cream butter CRASHED onto the road, picking Vanellope up and carrying her on a sea of sweet dairy further and further down the line. She looked down at the mass, seeing the eyes and mouths of the swarm who were still as bright and as cheerful as ever.

"NNK! VANELLOPE!"

"SHUT UP!" the girl cried, hitting the mouth with a tire iron, the thing crying out helplessly "SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU, BUTTER CHUNKS!"

The wave of butter seemed to retreat, suddenly releasing Vanellope and leaving her on dry land as it retreated somewhere out of sight. The car remained still as did the princess, a look of bewilderment on her face.

"O-Okay, out of EVERYTHING….THAT was the freakiest!"

"Is that so?"

Vanellope felt the hair on the back of her neck rising, turning quickly to see Citrusella sitting upon a light pole, every inch of her glowing bright blue and white.

"C-C-CISSY?"

"Oh, so it's no more blue Jubi?" said the girl, levitating down with the help of her bolts "Seems like your engine is outta tune there. LEMME FIX IT FOR YA!"

The girl shot out a hand, deliberately missing Vanellope who jumped out of the way. She could smell the sweet sour bolts going near her, her kart getting hit in the process. Citrusella smiled wide, waggling her fingers.

"See, told ya."

"K-Keep away!"

"Aw, but don'tcha wanna a HUG!?" the blueberry racer asked with a smile, her electric charged hands out and ready "I could use one after what I'VE been through!"

Vanellope hopped back into her kart "NO! An' soon, I won't have to-!"

_*FIIIIIIIIIISH-_**BOOM!***

Another scream came from Vanellope's mouth as she saw a massive blast of cherry acid explode beside her, some of the remnants dripping onto her car and eating through it. She looked up, Jubileena marching down the road, her bomb swirling around her.

"HEY!" the girl growled, looking mighty offended "My sister ASKED for a HUG. What do ya do when someone asks for a HUG, PRINCESS?!"

"DRIVE LIKE HECK OUTTA HERE!"

"No, that's what ya do when someone finds out you stole a month's supply of cake-batter ice cream out of the community freezer."

Vanellope stopped, looking back at Jubileena "That was YOU?"

"No, that was Candlehead."

_"I HEARD THAT!"_

"But less talk about ice-cream!" smiled the cherry racer "I'm in tha mood for some CHERRIES!"

The girl raised a hand and lobbed several bombs Vanellope's way, the girl fortunate enough to move as the explosive cherries ate through the street. Vanellope looked ahead, seeing that the finish line was still some distance away but with the rate she was going, she could still make it!

She had to!

This was no longer about her.

From the way the racers were acting, they had all gone mad.

A reset would not only take away their powers…but set their minds back as well.

"Please, just forget all of this!" Vanellope whispered to herself "I want to forget all of th-!"

The ground began to shake under the cart before a large deluge of molten CARAMEL began o pour from the street. The princess once again tried to regain control of her cart but the ooze seemed to becoming from all sides, the cookies mountain quaking!

"W-where is this stuff!"

*PA-PUM!*

Joining the caramel and cookies was a tidal wave of melted marshmallows, the combined wave of both threatening to swallow Vanellope whole.

"Aurgh! CAN'T THIS THING GO ANY FASTER?!"

"You could try using a power up…."

"Yeah! A speed boost! That should help!"

Vanellope knew better to look back. Looking back only resulted in more horrors for her eyes to see….but she couldn't help it.

She slowly turned her neck back, seeing Crumbellina and Sticky going after her, Crumbellina riding upon a large cookie chunk while Sticky seemed to one with the wave of marshmallow fluff she had created.

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Vanellope screamed "You guys are gangin' up on me…AGAIN!"

"But Princeeeeeeess!" crooned a sweet voice, small waves of bright colors breaking through the darkness "The track is even noooooow!"

Vanellope felt a great pressure going into her face, her cart slowing down considerable as the sound waves blasted in front of her. She could barely stand the power of the waves but she pressed on. Up ahead, Snowanna plucked a few strings on her guitar, an evil sneer on her face.

"Princess, I have a song for you…." The snow cone racer cooed "Don't you want to stay and sing it with me too?"

"W-Why would I want to stay with ANY of you?!"

"Vanellope…." Snowanna growled, her voice dropping pitches by the second "I don't like to be refused…."

The girl hit a loud note, the sound blaring towards Vanellope and knocking her back. A crazed look then glowed in Snowanna's eyes, the girl gripping the neck of her guitar harder.

"You will sing with **_MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!_**"

A massive blast of sound sent Vanellope flying UPWARDS, the girl shrieking at the top of her lungs as she held on for dear life, gravity kicking in once more as she was going down.

"OH GOBS!" she sobbed "I TAKE IT BACK! I TAKE EVERYTHIN-!"

The girl grunted, feeling a sharp jolt as her kart came to a halt. She looked up, seeing a giant cookie bird clutching her cart in its claws. She smiled, unsure whether or not to be thankful for the quick save but as she was saved from becoming a smear on the pavement…

"Thank you!" the princess cried happily "Thank you so much, you-!"

She stopped, her heart skipping a beat.

"Wait…we don't have birds like-!"

"PON!" shouted a delighted voice.

A great puff of smoke exploded in the air and in a second, Sakura joined Vanellope in her cart, the white mask still on her face.

"Hi, Princess!"

"S-S-Sakura?!"

"Oh, you mean the mask DIDN'T work?" the racer said, pulling it off "Darn it, and it looked so cool as well."

"O-okay, I KNOW I should be scared that ya just turned inta….THAT!" Vanellope said "But since we're facin' a massive crash DO SOMETHIN'!"

"You mean you want MEEEE to save YOU?!" the pink colored racer asked, a shocked tone in her voice "But I thought I was nothin' more than a bully who faded into the-!"

"SAKURA!"

"Okay, I'll do something…" the girl smiled brightly.

*PON!*

In an instant, Sakura had changed shaped, turning into a cute butterfly version of herself.

"This helps?" the girl asked, fluttering her wings.

The princess could only twitched an eye, watching as Sakura fluttered away "I MEANT DO SOMETHIN' FOR THE BOTH OF US!"

And down, down, DOWN Vanellope went, the girl screaming.

"GLITCH!"

*G-Gli-!*

"GLITCH!"

*G-Gli-!*

"GLI-OOF!"

Another sudden stop, but this time it didn't result in Vanellope laying no a heap on the ground.

"Uurf!" called a voice "Lucky break. Had I been an INCH off, I would have missed…."

Vanellope peaked from the sides of the cart, seeing that her tires weren't even touching the ground. She was scared to ask WHO had saved her but once more, her curiosity got the better of her.

"I'm just gonna ask, knowin' somethin' bad is gonna happen, but I think I know who this is…" the girl meeped "Mintz?"

"YUP!" Minty laughed, giving Vanellope the thumbs up "Tha one an' only!"

"Ahahah…" Vanellope laughed nervously "G-Great, Minty. I-I'm so happy ta see ya got your wish ta be tha strongest thing in tha arcade…but….do ya mind?"

Minty lifted the car up to get a better view of Vanellope "Yeeees?"

"D-do ya mind puttin' me down?"

"HA!" Minty laughed "Whatever ya SAAAAAAAAAAAAY!"

"I knew I should have worded that better…."

Minty gave the car a little toss but took it into her small hands once more, spinning twice and HURLING it through the air, Vanellope's terrified screams fading into the distance.

"Ya never said WHERE ta put ya down!"

Vanellope continued to fly through the air but by some stroke of luck, her angle of coming in was perfect enough for her to keep momentum, even though when she crashed she was nearly knocked out of her car and a few more things were lost in the streets.

But she was almost there!

The finish line was just ahead!

"H-HA!" Vanellope laughed "S-So close! So so so SOOOO CL-!"

_*Hiiiiiiss*_

Vanellope smelt burnt sugar, sour caramel and an overly pungent sweet aroma. She looked back, seeing that the back of her cart was starting to dissolve.

"WHAT THE WH-!?"

"Hello." Said Rancis, popping up from underneath the princess' car, his sickly skin making Vanellope nauseous at the sight "Mmm, seems to me you're in a hurry!"

"R-Rancis?"

A tentacle gripped onto the back of the cart, more toxic sludge spilling onto the side "Hey, be honest with me here, Vanellope. Do you think this makeover is really me?"

Another hand landed atop the cart, more of the candy being rotted away as Rancis inched closer and closer to the princess.

"After all. I don't wanna look like a ROTTEN BULLY, now DO I?"

"GET! OFF!" Vanellope roared, hitting a hard right and launching the monstrous Rancis off her cart but the momentum was too much, the back end of the cart coming off with him. Vanellope gasped, watching as the remains of her cart were starting to rot away and spill out onto the track.

But she was so close, so close to the finish!

"I need to make it…" the girl said, her mind in a frenzied mash "I NEED TO MAKE IT!"

More cart parts fell to the ground, rotting away but Vanellope kept going. The finish line was getting closer than ever when she felt her engine fall out. She cried in shock but she still had enough momentum! She was almost there!

ALMOST THERE!

ALMOST!

"Please! PLEASE!"

AND SHE CROSSED THE LINE!

"YES!" she cheered, all before her cart simple melted with her still inside. The girl tumbled about on the ground, laying still for a second or so. She moaned, sitting up on the surface of the ground as she looked around.

All was silent.

All was still.

And the rest of the racers were nowhere to be seen.

"I-its over?" the girl meeped, holding onto her tattered dress "I-It's ov-!"

"I don't think so, Nelly…."

Another familiar voice hidden in the background.

"O-Okay, I get it guys…." Vanellope stood, trying her best to sound tough "But you can't hide from me anymore! The reset went through! You're all-!"

"We're all WHAT?" came the voice again "We're all still here….and like you, NOTHING has changed…"

"W-wha-?!"

Vanellope looked down, noticing that the ground felt a lot SPRINGIER than usual. In fact, even in the dark of night she could see that it was not the usual glitter infused cookie road that lead away from the finish line.

It was pink, almost flesh colored.

And it seemed to move.

"W-what NO-?!"

Before Vanellope could move, the 'ground' rose, taking her several feet into the air as the surface stretched out around her. She could only watch in AWE the higher she got but the sides of the surface began to elongate, folding over her in the shape of a cage.

But the bars…they looked like fingers.

"FINGERS?!" the girl gasped, afraid to even get near the things but finally poking them with a cautious hand "Who IS th-?!"

"That tickles!" laughed a calm voice. Vanellope looked around, seeing that the long, stretchy arm belonged to someone, the form stretching down but the ground began to rock another LONG and HUGE arm reaching upwards in the sky only to be joined by the rest of the body. The princess' eyes shrank in fear, a face moving towards her.

A familiar one.

"T-T-TAFFYTA?!"

Out of the darkness, Taffyta's smiling face came through, her cold blue eyes looking upon the trapped princess in her hands.

"Ah, so we see things HAVEN'T changed!"

Vanellope could do nothing more than sit and shake in the huge stretchy palm of Taffyta's hand, her words coming out in a shocked gurgle.

"Didn't I say I was taller than you?" Taffyta tittered, uncurling her fingers and gently lowering Vanellope down to the ground, her form shrinking with her. Once both girls were back on the surface, Vanellope tumbled back, keeping herself some distance away from Taffyta.

"Oh Vanellope…." The girl said, unfazed by her tattered clothing "C'mere…"

"N-no….Stay back!"

"Why?"

"B-Because, you're supposed ta be RESET! Y-You shouldn't be able to do this!"

"Well, YOU shouldn't be able to glitch but YOU still can…" Taffyta smiled, her eyes showing forth madness "What is fair if WE were to have OUR WONDERFUL powers stripped away while YOU get to keep yours?"

"I-Its not like that!" Vanellope said, standing her ground in front of the racer "It shouldn't have-!"

"Oh, Nelly, Nelly, NELLY." Taffyta giggled, a long stretchy arm reaching around and pulling her towards her face "There are still so many things we have yet to discover about OUR own game…I guess this counts as ONE of them!"

Vanellope could hear various sounds coming from afar, turning back to see the rest of the racers appearing behind her, all looking as if they were armed and ready to attack. Vanellope glitched again, a cold sweat forming on her skin but Taffyta turned her head towards her, as if she wanted to see the fear in Vanellope's eyes.

_"Not so fun now, IS it?"_ Taffyta cooed.

The girl cried out as she backed away but she was surrounded. If she tried to glitch another racer would pop up, almost as if they knew what Vanellope was going to do next. Taffyta could only look about with a pitied look on her face, shaking her head.

"Poor, poor Princess Vanellope…she still has a lot to learn!"

Taffyta stretched her legs over towards the girl, expanding her hands to make it easier for her to pick Vanellope up "I gotta ask ya this though, Nelly. Did ya REALLY think revenge was a one way street?"

Still looking very pale, Vanellope just hung in Taffyta's hold, shaking her head "U-Uh, well-!"

"That's the funny thing about REVENGE." Taffyta interrupted "People always think that it serves ONE an' yet they act SO surprised when the person they took revenge on gets RIGHT back up and takes their OWN revenge!"

The princess gulped; Taffyta did have a point. Even if she were to carry out the executions and torture, there was really NOTHING stopping the other racers to standing up on their own and taking Vanellope out again. Even if she were the princess and she did have a power over them, they did have ONE thing.

NUMBERS.

They STILL outnumbered her and once the dam broke on their fear, the fear would be replaced with anger.

And that anger would be replaced with REVENGE.

But things had taken an even more sordid turn as Vanellope's tortures had caused so much damage to the racer's code that they seemed to have melded with whatever torture they were given, a damage so deep that just like her a simple reset was not going to work.

So everyone in Sugar Rush had something now….but the only question was what was to happen to Vanellope.

The racers had more than enough reason to take her out this time but they only stood, as if they were awaiting for Taffyta's orders. The now taffy girl cork-screwed her body, as if she wanted Vanellope to be in disgust at what she could now do thanks to her.

"Princess…." The racer began "There's somethin' else I wanna ask ya…."

"Y-Yes?"

"Did it ever occure to you ONCE that you weren't the only one Turbo mowed over?"

"W-what?"

"Did it ever occur to ANYONE in this arcade that YOU weren't the only one Turbo fiddled with?" the strawberry racer growled, wrapping herself around Vanellope "Or are you to believe we just EASILY followed him WITHOUT the need for him to lock up or memories, so we couldn't remember you or our OWN past?"

Taffyta's face burned red with anger, getting closer to Vanellope's nose.

"TELL ME, PRINCESS! YOU KNOW EVERYTHING AFTER ALL!" the girl yelled "DID WE FOLLOW TURBO FROM THE START!?"

"I-I don't-!?"

"DID WE?!"

"NO!" Vanellope shouted.

"WHAT HAPPENED AGAIN!?"

"H-he came here!"

"DID WE LET HIM IN HERE?!"

"NO!"

Taffyta increased her hold, Vanellope glitching in her grasp "DID WE WANT HIM TO REPLACE YOU?! TO TURN YOU INTO A GLITCH?! TO OVERTHROW AND TAKE OVER OUR HOME?! TO LOCK UP OUR MEMORIES?!"

"NO, NO, NO!" the girl screamed.

"Then why ACT as if that's what happened?!" Taffyta hissed, her grip loosening a bit as she allowed Vanellope to move her arms "Tell me why its just FINE n' DANDY for you and so many others in this arcade to ACT as if that's what happened? To BLAME us for an invasion NONE of us saw coming?!"

All racers were silent as they looked upon Taffyta and Vanellope. After so long, Taffyta had finally said it, the very thing she wanted everyone to hear.

"That's what I HATE about this place, Nelly." Taffyta growled "They DON'T wanna listen. They pretend that they do, but they don't. If they DID listen, they would have stopped and asked EVERYONE aside from YOU what happened here. But no. They decided that since YOU were turned into a glitch and we just happened to fall for Turbo's charm through his tampering of us, YOU were the only one that mattered. NOTHING happened to us, right? Absolutely NOTHING. Forget about ALL the lies we were told or how we couldn't even THINK without some intrusive memory of HIM popping up in our brains. It's just ALL about you so EVERYONE here is free to take out as MUCH revenge on us as they want!"

Taffyta neck stretched out as she looked at the girl once more "But like I said, that's the GREAT thing about revenge. It never ends. You had YOUR fun. This entire arcade had their fun….but now its OUR turn and Vanellope, after being caged up by ONE ruler, we're not gonna take another!"

Taffyta stood tall, looking at her fingers as she waggled them playfully.

"Maybe this has more to do with code…." She chuckled "Maybe this all has to do with what EVERYONE has called us mixed in with EVERYTHING we've felt. We've let this cook inside our heads for a LONG time Vanellope, but I should thank you for bringin' it out! Who knew that such power could come from being lied to and tortured!"

Vanellope felt as if the others were closing in on her, empty smiles on their faces and something ready to be thrown.

"L-Look…" Vanellope gasped "I-I-I just…."

She just what?

"Those tortures-!"

Those tortures.

The girl's brows furrowed, her face turning red "Why should I be scared of you?!"

"I don't know…" Taffyta yawned "Tell us."

"Y-You guys KNOW I can still mess with you code! Delete you!" the princess said in a mad cackle "I-It doesn't matter WHAT you try to do! I can pull a Turbo on ALL of you, pulling wires, corrupting you even-!"

"Swizz…" Taffyta said, snapping her fingers.

The boy floated over towards Vanellope, his eyes still glowing.

"Don't you dare…"

The boy only gave Vanellope a calm look, lifting her off the ground a bit. She struggled in his hold but a hand reached out for her, a finger touching her forehead.

"Bop."

Vanellope shivered again, feeling something go into her.

"W-What did you do?!" she demanded "D-Don't tell me you took away-!"

"Took away your powers? Nelly, why would you even CONSIDER that?" Taffyta said, returning to her normal shape "We're not that cruel…"

The children all laughed but it did nothing to put Vanellope at ease.

"Swizz just put in a little…SAFETY measure to ensure that NO ONE gets their code messed with here again….including YOU. After all, Turbo showed us that even the main character of a game can't be trusted with everyone's code."

"H-he did wh-?!"

"I can sense you, Vanellope…" Swizz said, a smile finally breaking through on his face "Like everyone here, I can sense everyone. And what I did to you was simple. There is a…well, a SURPRISE in your mind. If I so much as even feel you getting too close to the code vault, it will go off…."

_"G-Go OFF?"_

"Yes. As in BOOM. Out goes your head…." The boy smiled gently "And it will be there EVERY time you regenerate, only to happen again and again and again. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Vanellope felt as if the floor had been pulled from under her, the girl falling to her knees but the others moved in closer but not for an attack.

But rather to pick her back up.

"We can't go back…." Taffyta said, a hand under Vanellope's arm "This is how things are going to be from now on…."

"B-But I….y-you should….your executions."

"Don't you think this game would be a WHOLE lot better if there were no more executions? No more tortures?" asked Taffyta "I mean, looked at what happened to US. That should tell you something right there what good it will do!"

_"I need…."_ Vanellope panted, feeling as if her feet were dragging miles behind her _"I-I need to go to bed."_

"Yes, you DO!" Taffyta laughed, taking hold of Vanellope with her long arms and placing her on her back "After SUCH a long day, it's the best thing you need!"

Taffyta, her legs looking like eleven foot long stilts carried Vanellope back towards the castle, the night air clearing up as both girls went along. The other racers followed but did so at a great distance.

After so many hours of pain and torment, it was all over.

But at what cost?

Everyone thought that things were different once Turbo had left the game but now?

Now things were REALLY thrown around in Sugar Rush.

"Heh, I wonder who's more scared NOW. Perhaps I should instill a little MORE fight inta tha princess' hea-"

*SMACK!*

"OW!"

Gloyd looked over, seeing Snowanna scowling at him. The girl raised a finger to her lip and shushed him.

That was enough to tell the boy that for tonight, there was to be no more torture, no more scaring. As annoyed as he was, the racer nodded, pouting as he walked away.

"So…what now?" asked Jubileena "A-are we gonna show everyone what we look like now?"

"We have no choice…" Nougetsia said, carrying a reverted Adorabeezle on her back, the tiny racer sleeping soundly "It's not like we can really HIDE what we look like now…"

"Well, SHE looks normal enough…" Candlehead said as she poked the sleeping racer on her cheek with an extinguished finger.

"Yeah…but somethin' tells me we SHOULDN'T get her riled up…" Citrusella said, pulling Candlehead's hand away.

"Hey, it works for ME!" laughed Sticky "This is a candy game so what's the problem if we look even MORE like candy?"

"Say, Swizz…" asked Minty, pulling the boy back and lifting him up by his collar "Ya really didn't put any 'splody thing in Nelly's brain did ya?"

"Pfft, no." the boy laughed "Ya think I would be THAT sadistic to Vanellope? I just made her glow for a second, that's all!"

Swizz then winked, putting an arm around Minty.

"But I'm pretty sure it'll have her thinkin' twice before trying to pull cords in the code vault."


	19. Finale

Finale

"AND VANELLOPE VON SCHWEETZ COMES IN FOR THE WIN!" cheered the announcer, Taffyta and Candlehead coming in for second and third.

"GO, NELLY!" cheered Ralph, rushing down the bleachers onto the winner's circle "Man, another win! Wasn't it great?"

Vanellope gave Ralph a HUGE grin "YES." She said through clenched teeth "IT WAS….GREAT."

"Man, things have been lookin' UP since that upgrade ya told me about…" the wrecker chuckled as he looked at the other racer "I never thought that they had unlockable features as well."

Vanellope continued to smile, the grin bearing all her teeth and gums "Yes! YES YES YES! Say, why don't we go to TAPPER'S tonight?!"

"Whoa, what's the rush?" Ralph asked "Taffyta's wavin' over at ya. Ya think she wants to join?"

"Tapper's?" Taffyta smiled, a LONG arm reaching out and touching Vanellope on the shoulder "Sounds great! Winner pays!"

The vanilla racer laughed through her teeth, "H-HoKAY! O-only FAIR…Laffy Taffy!"

"Darn RIGHT!" the strawberry racer chuckled, twirling her arm into a corkscrew.

Ralph looked around, so surprised at just how much things had changed in the game. Even with the new 'skins' the racers had, the players couldn't get enough and swarmed Sugar Rush like never before.

"Heh, I knew you'd be popular but not THIS mu-!"

_"Help."_

"What?"

Vanellope's smile was still on her face but fear showed through it, her eyes shrinking down _"HELP. MEEEEE."_

Ralph arched a brow, disturbed by how Vanellope was looking at him "H-help? With what?"

Vanellope was about to open her mouth when from the corner of her eye….

Swizzle.

His eyes glowed bright.

"Heeelp MEEEEE…" Vanellope began "M-Move some things out of the FUNGEON! I-I need to get rid of all those HORRIBLE torture devices that Turbo had installed!"

"Oh…" said Ralph "Okay…whatever you want, Princess Fartfeathers…."

"Yeah, PRINCESS!" Taffyta said, twisting her neck around completely as she looked at Vanellope "There's no need for such brutality now, IS THERE?"


	20. Extra Stage- Creepie

**For Creepie. An extra stage alternate setting for Sweet Revenge. Enjoy.**

Extra Stage –Creepie

Creepie was hauled into the castle, her wrist bound and her mouth gagged. Like the other racers, she had been stolen away into the night, not a clue left at her home of where she was. She thrashed and fought as the guards carried her into the throne room, Vanellope sitting there and smiling at her.

"So, one you other racers thought you could escape?"

Creepie only growled, her brows furrowing in anger, disgusted by the saccharine sweet smile she was being shown.

"What was that?" Vanellope smiled "SPEAK UP!"

Creepie managed to lower the gag that had been wrapped around her mouth, spitting a few times "Wh-what's the meanin' of this, Schweetz?!"

"The meaning?" the girl asked in shock "What's so strange about being invited to the castle in the middle of the night? I mean, it's a common thing here in this game!"

"Is being thrown out of your own house and hauled away by gorilla cookies also a COMMON THING?"

"Is it when you're usurped…" Vanellope growled, her eyes narrowing at Creepie "I mean, it wasn't as if you guys FOUGHT for me when King Candy was in charge…"

"HE TOOK AWAY OUR MEMORIES THAT YOU WERE OUR PRINCESS!" the Halloween racer roared, attempting to pull herself away from the guards "An' ya KNOW what he did to our minds?! Why are ya actin' as if we ALLOWED him to do this to YOU, to US?!"

"Save it…" Vanellope scoffed, waving a hand "I heard that same story from the others BUT…"

Creepie rose her head a bit, only wondering what Vanellope was thinking next.

"But there is ONE thing I did enjoy to hear come from their mouths…."

"A-An' that would be?"

"A sweet, SWEET scream!" the princess cooed, glitching over to Creepie and pulling her cheeks "Which I'm sure you'll do just as good in my dear!"

"Wait!" the racer pleaded "Y-You can't do this to me!"

"Yes, I can…" Vanellope pouted "If I couldn't, do ya even think ya would get this far? But let's not waste time, you have a date with a few….SPECIAL friends!"

Creepie grew all the more worried as she was carried further and further into the bowels of the fungeon. She had heard of the terrible things that could happen there but never in her life did she imagine that such tortures would be carried out upon her. She wasn't even given a chance to rest upon her feet before she was, like so many others before her, strapped to the torture table. She fought as hard as she could but quickly found there was no escape.

Only time.

Time to wait and see what was in store for her.

"So what's this one again?" asked a guard.

"Trick or Treater…." Said the other, looking at her stats "Some Halloween racer."

"Don't we already have one of those?"

Creepie's cheeks burned with anger, the sarcasm in the guards' voices loud and clear. They meant it as an insult, trying to rile the girl up by comparing her to Gloyd.

"Hmm, so what would be the best way to care for this WITCH?"

"Witch, eh?" another guard chuckled, rubbing his chin "Why not do somethin' a lit TRADITIONAL for such a special lass?"

Though Creepie was showing off the angriest look she could, there was no way she could deny that she was now fearing for her life. The guards seemed much too delighted for her own good at what they had planned for her, one of them walking up to the girl and rolling her table further into the halls.

"Well, might as well get started!"

Creepie held her breath and shut her eyes, hearing the roaring sounds of something behind her. She looked up, seeing a large waterfall of crystal soda pouring in from one of the underground springs, the path diverted into the cell.

"W-what's this?"

"The beginning…" sneered a guard "The beginning of something WONDERFUL!"

The guards cackled as they surrounded Creepie and without warning, they took her table…

And FLIPPED it into the spring.

Creeipe cried out in shock as she tumbled into the great formation of soda but the screams were cut off once she landed inside.

Bubbles, bubbles, EVERYWHERE.

She screamed, her sounds muffled as the only thing that could be heard was the loud fizzy hiss of the bubbles around her. She kicked, her legs the only thing out of the soda but the more she struggled, the more air she began to waste.

It became woefully apparent to the girl what the guards wanted; they said they wanted to punish her in a 'traditional' fashion so what better way to punish a 'witch' by drowning her.

Creepie shuddered to herself, her head still immersed in the soda. If she continued panicking as much as she did, she would surly expire then so with much effort on her part, she forced herself to calm down but so much energy had already been expended, her lungs hurting and aching for air.

The guards knew that a child of her size could not last long, their eyes watching her twitching legs in the water.

"Give her about a few more seconds."

Creepie was feeling dizzy, her chest feeling as if it were going to burst but she had to fight the urge, that automatic response to breathe in.

But it was too close…

Too close.

With a YANK, the racer was pulled out the water, choking and gasping for air frantically.

"What?" gaped the guard in faux concern "You mean she didn't DROWN?"

"Looks like we'll have to move onto the next test!"

The NEXT test?

Once more, the girl was thrown upon her table and rolled quickly down the hall. She was still trying to recover from the first test but before she had a chance to slow her heart….

***BOOM!***

She cried out in pain, a large chocolate boulder placed upon her.

"W-What are you-?!"

"Witches can take so much weight!" called the guard, picking up another shell-covered chocolate boulder and thrusting it upon Creepie. She cried out in agony again, the weight slowly going down upon her tiny body. She gripped her straps and felt her toes curling back in her shoes.

It was just so much and the guards' laugher wasn't helping in matters.

They enjoyed watching the girl suffer for the princess, her cries of pain a sign that they were doing their job well.

Another rock was placed atop the girl and then another, her chest unable to move as the candy continued to pile.

"So, have anything to say Creepie?" asked the first guard. The Halloween themed girl said nothing, glaring at the guard angrily, as if to show him that despite everything she was being put through, she wasn't going to allow them the satisfaction. They wanted to see her suffer as much as possible but as long as she was still alive…

"Okay, that's enough!" the second guards said "CLEARLY, this witch is MUCH too powerful for us! She needs something…something bigger!"

Bigger?

What could be BIGGER than rocks?

The heavy weights were removed, a flood of air rushing into Creepie's chest but her body was too sore by now, the simple act of breathing a painful experience.

"Hurry men, HURRY!" called the guard, taking Creepie into another room. There, the girl was removed from the table but strapped upon a wall, her body limp and sore but somehow she was still alive.

"Get the bubbles ready!"

More bubbles?

Creepie lifted her head as best she could, her vision blurry. Before her, the guards prepared a massive gun but it was not one intended for bullets.

She recognized it in a heartbeat; some of the candy people used the item to shoot massive bubblegum bombs at the racers during the harder portions of the course but what in the world could the guards be doing with it in such an enclosed space?

This was an answer she dreaded to find out.

A bubble was shot out from the device and rapidly laded upon Creepie. She cried out but her shouts were muffled by the thick surface of the pink bubble. She kicked again but as soon as she did.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The bubble EXPLODED, sending a massive rush of air into the girl's face, the pressure making it feel as if she had been SLAMMED into the face with a brick wall, her entire body stinging.

AGAIN!

More bubbles were shot at the girl, the explosions beating her body black and blue. The racer cried out at each blast but still she did not call for an end. She just couldn't not with how things had suddenly turned in the game.

She knew it was wrong for her to let King Candy ruin her mind and control her that much, to let his influence guide her to bully Vanellope.

But was such punishment necessary? The children hadn't gone so far as to attempt to KILL Vanellope, they just wanted her out of their races.

But none of the mattered, not when there was so much fun to be had with the REVENGE!

Another bubble burst in Creepie's face, the sting of the air unbearable as she hung her head.

"Think she had enough?"

"Nope! One more…."

One more? How much could the girl take before finally expiring, only to regenerate again and have the whole process start over.

Creepie was unchained from the wall and carried into another room of the dungeon. There, she saw a great iron oven, a few other hands throwing some freshly cut wood and coals into the fires.

As soon as she saw it, she knew what she was going to happen. Her eyes widened and her skin turned even paler than it already was.

"BURN THE WITCH!"

"I-I'm not a witch!"

"BURN THE WITCH!"

"Th-this isn't right!"

**_BURN THE WITCH!_**

**_BURN THE WITCH!_**

**_BURN THE WITCH!_**

Creepie could do nothing as the men passed her in a line closer and closer towards the oven, the flames lapping into the air and the heat already starting to blister her skin. She was much too weak to fight back that's all she could think about.

She wanted to fight, kick and scream but all she could was moan.

Moan and cry.

This was it.

The limit had been reached.

And with large heave….

"IN YA GO!"

Creepie screamed in horror and pain as she fell right into the great fire, the flames almost grabbing her as the fell deep within the flames. She rose on her feet, her screams echoing in the great iron cabinet but no help came.

What help would come to a bully.

The guards laughed at the sight of the suffering girl, her screams getting louder and higher by the second.

But…

Should they have gone on that long? After a few moments, anyone else in that situation would have perished a long time ago bit Creepie was still there, still screaming and still pounding on the fdoor.

"S-Should we-?!"

"No, keep it going!"

The flames rose around the girl but her screams continued.

*BOOM!*

Something exploded from within, the guards moving back.

"The heck was-!"

"Don't touch anything!" the lead guard said "Just let her-!"

*BOOM!*

Another blast.

Second after second, more explosions rang through the oven, their sounds finally drowning out the screams of the racer but the guards stayed glued to sight, the fires burning bright and turning a strange blue color.

Blue?

The heat intensified, everyone around able to feel it.

"Um, boss?"

Fireworks seemed to go off, a great iron roar filling the room. The oven shook, it creaked, it groaned! Rivets began to bust from the side and then-!

An explosion.

A great CASTLE shaking explosion.

It was a wonder anyone was alive after such an event but the guards all lay about, a little sore but alive nonetheless.

"W-what happened?" asked one.

"I-I don't know…" replied another, shaking his head "But from what I can see, we-!"

A foot stepped from the ashes, the guards looking up in shock.

How could ANYONE step out of the oven alive?

But low and behold a figure emerged from the smoke, her stride much stronger than theirs.

"I-It can't be…"

Familiar rainbow hair and pale skin were seen through the smoke, though there was a strange glow around it.

"Creepie?!"

Creepie looked down at herself finding that by some miracle, her skin was not burned off as it had been.

But there was something else different about there. She FELT different, stronger, strange.

Aside from the strange glow that she was giving off, every inch of her body tingled.

And she liked it.

The guards back off, all of them too afraid to speak up to the girl but who could blame them? After all, she was supposed to be a crispy cookie in the oven.

"Witch?"

The guards looked up, surprised to hear the girl speaking, especially so friendly towards them.

"E-excuse me, miss?"

"You said I was a witch, right?"

The guards all eyed each other but the leader moved forward, standing up and overtowering the girl.

"W-well, we er-!"

"WITCH!" Creepie said brightly, raising a hand as an assortment of Halloween themed candies began to pop from her hand "I AM YOUR HALLOWEEN WITCH!"

The group stepped back in caution, the candies all hovering about and squeaking but before they could even escape….

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!"

A flurry of bat-shaped candies dove towards one of the guards, attaching themselves to his face and swarming him. He screamed in pain as he could feel their fangs and claws going into him but that did nothing to stop the tiny terrors, the beasties chewing him up much as the cookie he was.

"Air…." Creepie

"OH MY GOBS-!"

Creepie didn't stop, instead jumping up into the air to as the guards made a dive for her, missing her completely.

"Come here you little runt!"

"Oh, runts are GOOD cadies but I don't believe I have that…." Creepie smiled, more items forming in her hands "But I hope you enjoy RED HOTS!"

With a flick of the wrist, Creepie Unleashed a hailstorm of flaming hot Red Hots into the room, the guards running and screaming for cover but with nowhere to go, they had no choice but to burn.

"Fire…."

"Someone put it out!" a guard beg, writhing on the floor "ANYONE!"

"Water…."

Creepie moved a hand towards the soda springs, controlling the flow with grace and strength only to let the full force of it wash upon the still suffering guards. Unlike her however, they didn't have tow orry about drowning in the fizzy beverages as their cookie bodies began to dissolve, the carbonation only speeding the process up.

"And finally…." Creepie smiled, looking upon the remains of her victims "Air…"

Bubble gum balls spilled from her fingers, instantly popping and forming into bubbles as they hit the floor. Creepie cackled madly, her powers increasing as she watched the bubbles form.

"YES! YES!" she bellowed madly "GROW! GROW!"

The bubbles filled the entire room but with so much space taken over, they began to press into one another, the pressure too great to contain with the cell and as the pressure finally gave way.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

The castle shook once more as the walls began to crumble, a gaping hole in the side of the foundation that was JUST the right size for Creepie to escape. She floated from her holdings and looked out into the nights sky. There was something betwitching about the night that made her realize that something big was going to happen in Sugar Rush, something the much beloved princess had not anticipated.

But that was the best part of Halloween. You're not supposed to anticipate the surprises and the scares.

When they just POP up, that's when you get the best of them.

Creepie snickered, once again forming more Halloween treats in her hand. She knew she had many to choose from but she had to save something SPECIAL for the princess.

"Yes….something that only someone like HER can appreciate…."


End file.
